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byJLovers of the Art, with. 

IliustraiUms of StatwUwl Jli«s. Gollecteslta 

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COPYRIGHT. 1883, 

Bt CHARLES F. OKVIS. 



413 



PRESS OF J.J. LITTLE 1 CO., 
NOS 10 TO 2U ASTOR.°lACE, NEW »01K. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Etchings on a Salmon Stream — Charles Hallock 1 

Fly Casting for Salmon — George Dawson 9 

The Salmon and Trout of Alaska— L. A. Beardslee 17 

Sea-Trout — Fitz James Fitch 47 

Rangeley Brook Trout — James A. Williamson 81 

The Grayling— Fred Mather 89 

A Trouting Trip to St. Ignace Island— W. Thomson. . 97 

The Angler's Greeting — W. David Tomlin 119 

The Lure — "Bourgeois " 131 

Fly-Fishing in the Yosemite — A. Louis Miner, Jr 143 

How to Cast a Fly— Seth Green 159 

Trout : Meeting Them on the "June Rise" — u Ness- 

muk " 161 

" Why Peter Went A-Fishing " (by permission of the 

author)— W. C. Prime 173 

From " Game Fish of the North " (by permission of the 

author) — B. B. Roosevelt 183 

The Poetry of Fly Fishing— F. E. Pond 201 

A Perfect Day — Geo. W. Van Siclen 211 

Suggestions— Charles F. Orvis 217 

The Resources of Fly Fishing — Dr. James A. Henshall 233 

Winter Angling— Frank. S. Pinckney 249 

Not All of Fishing to Fish — A. Nelson Cheney 265 

Fly-Fishing in Florida— Dr. C. J. Kenworthy 283 

Fly-Fishing -# Z. C. Judson 293 



"Together let us beat this ample field, 
Try what the open, what the covert yield." 

— Pope. 

"Gentlemen, let not prejudice prepossess you. I confess my 
discourse is like to prove suitable to my recreation, calm and 
quiet. So much for the prologue of what I mean to say. " — lzaak 
Walton. 



FlSHIlSTG WITH THE FLT. 



ETCHINGS ON A SALMON STEEAM. 

BY 
CHARLES HALLOCK. 



I suppose that all that can be instructively written 
of the salmon has already been said. The processes of 
natural and artificial propagation haye become familiar 
to all who desire to learn ; the secrets of their period- 
ical migrations — their advents and their absences — have 
been fathomed from the depths of ocean ; their form 
and beauty have been lined by the artist's brush, and 
their flavor (in cans) is known to all the Avorld where 
commerce spreads her wings. And yet, the subject al- 
ways carries with it a perennial freshness and piquancy, 
which is renewed with each recurring spring, and en- 
livened by every utterance which attempts to make it 
vocal ; just as the heavenly choirs repeat the anthem of 
the constructed universe intoned to the music of the 
assenting spheres ! The enthusiasm which constantly 
invests it like a halo has not been dissipated or abated 
by the persistent pursuit of many centuries, albeit the 
sentiments of to-day are but the rehearsal of the orig- 
1 



2 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

inal inspiration, and present knowledge the hereditary 
outcome of ancient germs. 

All down the ages echo has answered echo, and the 
sounding forks have transmitted orally the accented 
annals wherever the lordly salmon swims. 

Now, hold rhapsody, and let us look to the riyer ! 
Do you mark the regal presence in yonder glinting 
pool, upon which the sun flashes with an intensity 
which reveals the smallest pebble on the bottom ? 
Nay ? You cannot see that salmon, just there at the 
curl of the rapid ? Nor his knightly retinue drawn up 
there abreast just behind him in supporting position ? 
Then, my friend, you are indeed a novice on the river, 
and the refraction of the solar rays upon its surface 
blinds your unaccustomed eyes. Well, they do cer- 
tainly look but shadows in the quiet pool, so motionless 
and inanimate, or but counterfeiting the swaying of the 
pensile rock-weeds of the middle stream. What com- 
fortable satisfaction or foreboding premonitions do you 
imagine possess the noble lord while he is taking his 
recuperative rest in the middle chamber, after passing 
from his matriculation in the sea ? Faith ! you can 
almost read his emotions in the slow pulsations of his 
pectoral fins, and the inflection of his throbbing tail ! 
Perhaps he shrinks from the barricade of rock and foam 
before him ; or hesitates to essay the royal arch above 
the gorge, which reflects in prismatic hues of emblem- 
atic glory the mist and mysteries of the unat tempted 
passage. 



ETCHINGS ON A SALMON STREAM. 3 

And his doughty squires around him ; do they share 
his misgivings, or are they all royal bloods together, 
sans peur sansreproclie, in scaled armiture of blue and 
silver, eager to attain the land of promise and the ulti- 
mate degree of revelation ? Ah ! the way is indeed 
beset with difficulties and crucial tests, but its end is 
joy and the fulness of knowledge : and "knowledge is 
the beginning of life." 

Let us go nearer, and with caution. Ha ! what flash 
was that across the pool, so swift and sudden that it 
seemed to begin and end at once ? It sped like a silver 
arrow across the line of sight, but it was not a silver 
arrow ; only the salmon on his route up stream, at the 
rate of 90 miles per hour. Were it not for the obstruc- 
tions of the cascades and the long rapids, and perchance 
the wicked set-nets of the fishermen, it would not take 
him long to accomplish his journey to the head of the 
stream, and there prepare for the spawning-beds. But 
were the way to procreation made thus easy, and should 
all the salmon of a season's hatching survive, they 
would stock their native rivers so full in a couple of 
years that there would be no room for them. So the 
sacrifice of life is necessary that life may continue. 
Strange the paradox ! 

I love to see the salmon leap in the sunlight on the 
first flood of a "June rise," and I love to hear his 
splash in the darkness of the still night, when the 
place where he jumped can be determined only by the 
sound, unless perchance his break in the water disturbed 



4 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

the reflection of a star. I have stood on heights afar 
off at the opening of the season, ere my unconsecrated 
rod had chance to exercise its magic, or my lips and 
feet to kiss the river, and with the combined exhilara- 
tion of impatience, desire, and joy, watched the inces- 
sant spirits of silvery spray until my chained and chafed 
spirit almost broke at the strain ; and I have lain on 
my couch at midnight sleepless and kept awake by the 
constant splash of the salmon leaps. More interesting, 
if not so stimulating, is the leap of the salmon at ob- 
structing falls, with the air filled with dozens of dart- 
ing, tumbling, and falling fish — the foam clashing and 
sparkling in the sun, the air resonant with roar, and 
damp with the ever-tossing spray. Nay, more : I have 
seen a fall whose breast was an unbroken sheet thirty 
feet perpendicular, inclosed by lateral abutments of 
shelving crags which had been honey-combed by the 
churning of the water in time of flood ; and over these 
crags the side-flow of the falls ran in struggling rivu- 
lets, filling up the holes and providing little reservoirs 
of tem]3orary rest and refreshment for the running 
salmon ; and I have actually seen and caught with my 
hands a twelve-pound salmon which had worked its 
way nearly to the counterscarp of the topmost ledge in 
its almost successful effort to surmount a barrier so in- 
superable ! Surely, the example of such consummate 
pertinacity should teach men to laugh at average 
obstacles which stand in the pathway of their am- 
bition ! 



ETCHINGS ON A SALMON STREAM. 5 

I always become enthusiastic over the rugged gran- 
deur of some Canadian rivers with which I am familiar. 

We have no such rivers in our own domain, except 
on the Pacific sloj)e ; and except in parts of Scotland 
and Norway, the streams of Europe must be tame in 
comparison. It is because so few of our own anglers 
have the exj>erience to enable them to draw contrasts, 
that they do not more appreciate the charm of salmon 
fishing. Even a vivid description fails to enforce the 
reality upon their comprehension, and they remain list- 
less and content with smaller game. Beyond the cir- 
cumscribed horizon of grass-meadows and the mountain 
trout streams of New England and the Blue Ridge their 
vision does not reach. There is a higher plane both of 
eminence and art. 

Opportunely for man's periodical proclivities, nature 
has given to salmon and green peas a vernal flavor and 
adaptation to each other, as well as to his desires, so 
that, when the spring comes around they act directly 
on his liver, expelling all the effete accumulations of 
winter, stimulating the action of the nerves and brain, 
and imparting an irresistible desire to go a-fishing. 
They oil the hinges of the tongue and keep it wagging 
until June. When that auspicious, leafy month arrives, 
not all the cares of State will hold a President, Vice- 
President, or even a Vice-Regent, from taking his an- 
nual outing on the salmon streams. Representatives of 
royalty and representatives of republicanism join sym- 
pathies and hands. The Governor-General of Canada 



6 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

sails to his fayorite river in a government vessel with 
her officers in full panoply of brass buttons and navy- 
blue. The President of the United States abandons 
the well-worn star routes for more congenial by-paths. 
Wealthy Americans in private yachts steam away to the 
tributaries of the St. Lawrence, and clubs cross lines 
on their exclusive casting grounds. The humbler cit- 
izen, with more limited purse, betakes his solitary way 
to the rehabilitated streams of Maine, enjoys fair sport, 
and while he fishes, thanks the indefatigable Fish Com- 
missioners of the State for the good work which they 
have accomplished. 

So everybody is happy, and nobody left out ; and 
therefore so long as the season lasts — Hurrah for Sal- 
mon and Green Peas, and vive la Salmo Salar ! 



SALMON FLIES. 




Copyrighted by C F.ORYIS, Manchester, Vt 



" I may, perad venture, give you some instructions that may 
be of use even in your own rivers ; and shall bring you acquainted 
with more flies than Father Walton has taken notice of in his 
Complete Angler." — Charles Cotton. 

"Eh, man ! what a conceit it is when ye reach a fine run on a 
warm spring mornin', the wuds hatchia' wi' birds, an' dauds o' 
licht noos and thans glintin' on the water ; an' the water itsel' in 
trim order, a wee doon, after a nicht's spate, and wi' a drap o' 
porter in't, an' rowin' and bubblin' ower the big stanes, curlin' 
into the linn and oot o't ; and you up tae the henches in a dark 
neuk whaur the fish canna see ye ; an' than to get a lang cast in 
the breeze that soughs in the bushes, an' see yer flee licht in the 
verra place ye want, quiet as a midge lichts on yer nose, or a 
bumbee on a flower o' clover." — Norman McLeod, D.D. 

"Salmon fishing is confessedly the highest department in the 
school of angling." — George Dawson. 

i. Prince Wm. of Orange. 2. Butcher. 

3. Jock Scott. 4. Silver Doctor. 

6. Silver Gray. 7. Curtis. 
5. Fairy; 

"The noblest of fish, the mighty salmon, refuses bait utterly, 
and only with the most artistic tackle and the greatest skill can 
he be taken ; the trout, which ranks second to the salmon, de- 
mands an almost equal perfection of bait, and in his true season, 
the genial days of spring and summer, scorns every allurement 
but the tempting fly. The black bass prefers the fly, but will 
take the trolling spoon, and even bait, at all seasons ; whereas the 
fish of lesser station give a preference to bait, or accept it alone. 
This order of precedence sufficiently proves what every thorough 
sportsman will endorse— that bait fishing, although an art of in- 
tricacy and difficulty, is altogether inferior to the science of fly 
fishing." — Robert B. Roosevelt. 



"Sometimes a body may keep threshin' the water for a week 
without seein' a snout— and sometimes a body hyucks a fish at the 
very first thrau ! " — Christopher North. 

" Salmon fishing is, to all other kinds of angling, as buck 
shooting to shooting of any meaner description. The salmon is 
in this particular the king of fish. It requires a dexterous hand 
and an accurate eye to raise and strike him ; and when this is 
achieved, the sport is only begun, where, even in trout angling, 
unless in case of an unusually lively and strong fish, it is at once 
commenced and ended. Indeed the most sprightly trout that ever 
was hooked, shows mere child's play in comparison to a fresh run 
salmon." — Sir Walter Scott. 

"'I chose the largest fly I could find,' said the captain, 'be- 
cause the water here is very deep and strong ; and as the salmon 
lies near the bottom I must have a large fly to attract his atten- 
tion ; but I must not have a gaudy fly, because the water is so 
clear that the sparkle of the tinsel would be more glittering than 
anything in nature ; and the fish, when he had risen and come 
near enough to distinguish it, would be very apt to turn short.' 

" ' You have it now, precisely,' said the parson ; ' the depth of 
the water regulates the size of the fly, and the clearness of the 
water its colors. This rule, of course, is not without exceptions ; 
if it were there would be no science in fishing. The sun, the wind, 
the season, the state of the atmosphere, must also be taken into 
consideration ; for instance, this rapid we are going to fish now, 
is the very same water we have been fishing in below, and there- 
fore just as clear, but it is rough, and overhung by rocks and 
trees. I mean therefore to put on a gayer fly than any we have 
used hitherto.' " — Rev. Henry Newland. 

" I unhesitatingly assert that there is no single moment with 
horse or gun into which is concentrated such a thrill of hope, 
fear, expectation, and exultation, as that of the rise and success- 
ful striking of a heavy salmon. I have seen men literally unable 
to stand, or to hold their rod, from sheer excitement."—^. Chol- 
mondeley-Pennell. 



FLY CASTING FOR SALMON. 



BY 

GEORGE DAWSON. 



There is no essential difference between trout and 
salmon casting. The same general principles apply to 
both, and it only requires the careful application of the 
skill attained in the one to become equally exj^ert in 
the other. The difference is simply the difference in 
weight. A twelve-foot trout rod weighs, say, eight 
ounces, and an eighteen-foot salmon rod, with reel, 
weighs two or three times as much. The one can be 
manipulated with one hand ; the other requires both. 
With the one you ordinarily cast forty or fifty feet ; 
with the other sixty or eighty ; and with rods equally 
approximating perfection, it is as easy to cast the eighty 
feet with the one as the forty feet with the other. I do 
not mean to say that no more muscular exertion is re- 
quired in the one case than in the other, but simply 
that with such slight effort as is necessary with either, 
it is as easy to place your fly where you wish it with 
the one rod as with the other. No great muscular ex- 
ertion is necessary to cast with either. Indeed, the 
chief difficulty in casting is to get rid of the idea that 
a great deal of muscular effort is necessary to get out a 



10 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

long line. That coveted result is not to be attained by 
mere muscle. If you have a giant's strength you 
mustn't use it like a giant. If you do you will never 
make a long or a graceful cast with either trout or 
salmon rod. With both there must be only such 
strength used as is necessary to give the line a quick 
but not a snappy back movement — keeping up the 
motion evenly until the fly is placed where you de- 
sire it. 

The most difficult attainment, in both salmon and 
trout casting, is to be able, with instinctive accuracy, to 
measure the distance traversed by the backward move- 
ment of your line. If you begin the return too soon 
your line will snap and thereby endanger your fly ; if 
you are too tardy it will droop and thereby lose the 
continuity of tension indispensable to a graceful and 
effective forward movement. This essential art can 
only be attained by practice. Some attain it readily ; 
others never ; — just as some measure time in music 
with unerring accuracy, without a teacher; some only 
acquire the art after protracted drilling, and others 
never acquire it at all. 

There is almost as perfect rhythm in fly-casting as in 
music. Given a definite length of line and the expert 
can measure his cast by his one, two, three, four, as ac- 
curately as a teacher can regulate the time of his orches- 
tra by the movement of his baton. While this is true 
in casting with either rod it is most noticeable in casting 
for salmon. The heavy line, the massive springy rod, 



FLY CASTING FOR SALMON. \\ 

and the great distance to be traversed, render each 
movement— the lift from the water, the backward flight 
of the line, the return motion, and the drop at the 
point desired — as distinct to a quick perception as the 
beat of a bar in music. 

But there are occasions when it would not do to cast 
by count. If the wind is strong in any direction the 
movement of the line is perceptibly effected ; and if the 
wind happens to be at your back, it requires great skill 
and care to counteract its influence and secure satisfac- 
tory results. With such a wind, unless you are perfect 
master of the situation, you will be apt to snap off 
more flies in an hour than you will be likely to lose 
legitimately in a fortnight. Nine-tenths of all the flies 
I ever lost took their departure before I learned how to 
cast safely with a high wind at my back. 

In many salmon rivers the pools are so placed and 
the general body of water is of such depth that you can 
always cast from vour anchored canoe. As, under such 
circumstances, there are no obstructions behind you, 
less care is required in keeping your fly well up in its 
backward flight than when casting from the shore— as 
in some rivers you always have to do. 

In the salmon season the water is usually well down 
in the banks, and in many rivers the slope from high 
water mark to the summer channel is considerable. In 
casting, as a rule, you stand near the water ; unless, 
therefore, you cast high— that is, unless you keep your 
fly well up in its backward flight it will almost certainly 



12 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

come in contact with a stone or boulder of some sort 
and be broken. To avoid this mishap requires great 
care. You must keep the point of your rod well up 
always — several degrees higher than when casting on 
the water. My first experience in shore-casting where 
the banks had a precipitous slope cost me a great many 
pet flies ; and I never got to feel really "at home " in 
casting under such circumstances. It detracts from the 
sport when your mind is occupied with the proper swing 
of the line. But enough of ecstacy remains to enable 
one to overlook this inconsiderable drawback. Only 
give the angler an opportunity to cast from any sort 
of standpoint and he will speedily discover the proper 
lift and swing to overcome any obstacle, and be happy. 
Salmon casting — especially the frequency of the cast 
— depends largely upon the character of the water you 
are fishing. If the pool is straight and narrow and the 
current strong, and you are casting from a canoe, you 
can so manipulate your fly as to render frequent casts 
unnecessary — the important thing being not to let 
your fly sink, as it is not likely to do in such a current. 
In large pools where the current is sluggish, as is some- 
times the case, frequent casts are necessary in order to 
touch it at every point with your fly on the surface. 
Where you are able to cast across a pool, if the current 
moves with a moderate force, you can sweep it at each 
cast by giving your rod the proper motion. This latter 
class of pools are those most coveted, because you can 
cover a great deal of ground with very little effort. If 



FLY CASTING FOR SALMON. 13 

you fall in with, a pool — as you sometimes will — where 
the current is so sluggish as to be almost imperceptible, 
frequent casts are unavoidable. Without them, not only 
will your fly sink, but your line will soon acquire a slack 
which not only gives one an uncomfortable feeling but 
is unsafe in case of a rise. The very first requisite in 
salmon fishing is a taut line. It is not only requisite 
for safety, but without it it is impossible to promptly 
and properly recover your line for a new cast. 

But there is nothing so tests a salmon angler's skill 
and patience as to cast in an eddy or whirl. No matter 
how carefully or at what distance one casts, the moment 
the fly touches the ivater it begins to come back ujDon 
you, compelling constant casting if you cast at all. 
The result is a great deal of hard work with very little 
effect, because to keep a straight line your fly must be 
lifted almost the very moment it finds a lodgment on 
the surface. In such a pool one soon becomes weary 
with his efforts to place and hold his fly in the desired 
position, for it is not often that he is rewarded by a 
rise. Since my first experience in such a pool I have 
never hankered after its counterpart. And yet it was a 
sort of success in this way : Having become tired cast- 
ing I allowed my fly to go as it pleased. It was soon 
out of sight, having been drawn down by one of the 
whirls, and in reeling up to prevent its being twisted 
around the rock I presumed to be the primary cause of 
the whirl, I found myself hooked to a fish which had 
taken my fly at least ten or twelve feet below the sur- 



14 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

face. When I first felt him he came up as easily as a 
six-ounce chub, and I supposed I had nothing heavier 
than a medium sized trout. But as soon as he felt the 
hook and saw my canoe he showed his mettle, and gave 
me just such a fight as I might have expected from a 
twenty-pound salmon, as he proved to be. That was 
the first and last salmon I ever took with the fly so far 
under water. The rule with some anglers is "to let 
the fly sink a little " ; my rule is never to let it sink at 
all. When a fish strikes I want to see him. There is 
no movement that so thrills and delights me as the rush 
of the salmon for the fly. To me, half the pleasure of 
a rise is lost if I don't see the head and shoulders of 
the kingly fish when he leaps for the lure. 

The manner of casting is almost as varied as the 
casters themselves. You will seldom see two salmon 
anglers cast precisely alike. Some cast with a straight 
backward and forward movement, without the diver- 
gence of a hair. Others secure a half sweep to the line 
by giving the backward movement over the left shoul- 
der and the return over the right, or vice versa. Still 
others almost invariably cast sideways, or "under" as 
it is called, seldom lifting their rod perpendicularly. 
Some stand as erect and motionless as a statue when 
they cast. Others sway to and fro as if they made their 
body rather than their arms do the work ; and others 
still push themselves forward as they cast, as if they 
were not sure their fly would reach its destination un- 
less they followed it. These, however, are simple man- 



FLY CASTING FOB SALMON. 15 

nerisms. Each may be equally expert — that is, equally 
successful in placing his fly just where he wants it and 
just at such distance as he please. My own preference 
and practice is, a slight sway of the body and a nearly 
straight backward and forward movement of the line. 
There are, of course, occasions when a semicircle 
sweep of the line, or a lateral movement, or an under 
cast is necessary to reach some desired objective point. 
All these movements, when they are deemed necessary, 
will come from experience ; but for unobstructed waters 
I prefer a straight cast, and only such slight motion of 
the body as will give occasional respite to the arms ; for 
it is no boy's play to so handle a ponderous salmon rod 
for hours in succession as to give the needed sweep to 
an eighty-foot line. 

The flies used for salmon are more numerous and varied 
than those used for trout, and quite as uncertain and puz- 
zling to those who use them. I have taken salmon, as I 
have taken trout, out of the same water within the same 
hour with flies of directly opposite hues, and of shapes 
and sizes which were the counterpart of nothing " in the 
heavens above, in the earth beneath, or in the waters 
under the earth." There are, however, standard flies 
which experience has shown to be generally more 
" taking " than others, and for this sufficient reason 
are always found in salmon anglers' fly books. But no 
expert deems any fly or any dozen flies invariably 
adapted to all waters and all conditions of wind and 
weather. It is superlative nonsense, therefore, to mul- 



16 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

tiply varieties indefinitely. It is only necessary to have 
an " assortment/' gaudy and sombre, large and small, 
but plenty of them. It is very unpleasant to run short 
when you are two or three hundred miles away from 
"the shop." Those who have had any considerable 
experience know just what they want, and the only safe 
thing for the novice to do, when ready to lay in his 
stock, is to seek advice of someone who knows something 
of what may be required in the waters to be visited. 

And then let him go to the quiet and roaring rivers 
where salmon congregate, experiment with such flies 
as he has, lure the fish by his skilful casts, strike 
quick, fight hard, and be happy. 

Albany, Dec. 7th, 1882. 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 

BY 

L. A. BEARDSLEE, 

Captain V. S. Navy. 



From the great salmon of the Yukon, to the tiny 
fingerlings, which in innumerable quantities throng in 
the various creeks of Alaska, and are as ambitious to 
seize a single salmon egg as are their larger brethren to 
appropriate great masses of the same, however illy the 
bait may coyer and disguise the hook which impales it, 
there is not, I am convinced, an Alaskan fish, which 
through any merit of its own, is entitled to an intro- 
duction to the angling fraternity through the medium 
of this volume, and to the companionship of the beau- 
tiful f ac-similes of the flies, which in life they scorned. 

From personal observation and collected information, 
I am prepared to accuse all of the salmon family which 
are found in Alaska, of the grave offence of utterly ig- 
noring the fly, either as food or plaything, and of de- 
pending upon more gross and substantial resources. 

They are odd fish, and require peculiar treatment 
both in catching and discussing. And it is to this 
cause alone that they are indebted for the honor of 
being made honorary members of the gallant baud of 
game-fishes of which this volume treats. 



18 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

I have selected them as the subject of my contribu- 
tion, because a single glance at the array of well-known 
names of those who are to be my co-contributors, con- 
yinced me that if I wished to present any new, inter- 
esting, or valuable facts upon any icthyological subjects 
within my range, I would have to travel well out of the 
ordinary tracks, and go prospecting in some " far 
countree." 

This I have done, and I feel confident that I alone 
of the contributors have been " forced by circumstances 
over which I had no control," into a situation where 
the obtaining of my notes became pleasure instead of 
toil. 

The notes which will be woven into this paper are 
not all of them entirely new. Some have entered 
into a series of letters, which over the signature 
" Piseco " have appeared in the columns of the Forest 
and Stream, during 1879-80-81. Through the courtesy 
of the editor of that journal, I am permitted to again 
make use of them. 

I have preferred a grave charge against the salmon 
and trout of Alaska ; it is but just that I should ex- 
plain the basis upon which it is founded, and endeavor 
to establish my claim to be somewhat of an authority 
on the subject. 

From the middle of June, 1879, to the latter part of 
September, 1880, I, as the commander of the U. S. 
ship of war Jamestown, was stationed in the Territory 
of Alaska, with general instructions to restore and 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 19 

preserve order among the incongruous collections of 
Whites, Creoles, and Indians of which the inhabitants 
of that forsaken country was composed. 

My command was moored in Sitka Harbor, but dur- 
ing the two summers and autumns of my sojourn, my 
duties called upon me to make frequent trips of from 
ten to two hundred miles, to various portions of the 
Territory. 

These trips w T ere made in small steamers which I 
hired, steam launches and boats of the ship, and In- 
dian canoes, and in them I explored many of the straits 
and sounds which separate the islands of the Alexander 
Archipelago. 

Naturally fond of fishing and gunning, my Orvis 
rods, with full assortment of flies, all gear necessary 
for salt-water fishing, and my rifle and shot-gun, were 
my inseparable companions ; and aftei days spent in 
explorations, sometimes of bays and sounds never before 
entered by white men, and in one case of a large bay 
forty miles deep by fifteen broad, existing where the 
latest charts showed solid land only, my evenings were 
spent poring over works on natural history, icthyology, 
and ornithology, and jotting down in my note-book 
descriptions of my finds. Such jolly times ! One day 
a mineral lode, another great flocks of ptarmigan, an- 
other a bear, a mountain sheep, or some new fish — gave 
me something to dream of. 

The Alexander Archipelago, of which Baranoff, 
Kruzoff, and Tchitagofl Islands are the principal, is 



20 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

separated from the coast by Chatham Strait, which, be- 
ginning at the southward as a continuation of Puget 
Sound reaches to above 60° north at Chilkhat ; it is 
from three to ten miles wide, deep and steep, too, 
throughout, bordered on the coast side by high, heavily 
timbered, snow-clad mountains, and on the other by 
high wooded islands. On both sides, many of the ravines 
are occupied by immense glaciers, from Avhich flow icy 
streams, the birthplace of salmon. 

Eunning nearly east and west there are several straits 
and sounds connecting Chatham Strait with the Pacific 
Ocean, of which Peril Strait, Icy Strait, and Cross 
Sound, are the principal. These, too, are bordered, as 
is Chatham Straits, and are the homes of glaciers and 
glacial streams. 

Many of these streams I have personally fished, and 
among those under my command were several with kin- 
dred tastes, and I became possessed of the results of 
their experience. 

I have read all that I could find of works on 
Alaska, and since my return have naturally conversed 
much with every one whom I have met who had also an 
Alaskan episode in his life, and have collected testimony 
on the point at issue. One and all affirm that my ex- 
perience has been theirs, and the most strenuous efforts 
with well selected flies have failed to record a single 
capture of trout or salmon. The first bit of evidence I 
collected is worth recording. When the news that the 
Yankees had purchased Alaska, and thus become own- 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 21 

ers of the land north as well as south of British Co- 
lumbia, was communicated to the Scotch Admiral of 
the English squadron at Victoria, Vancouver's Island, 
he ejaculated, " Dom the country ! let 'em have it; the 
blausted saumon won't rise to a Jloi." Such was our 
united experience and verdict. 

Of course, as we caught no end of them (trout and 
salmon) there were baits which would seduce them, and 
these were, for the trout, salmon roe, and for the salmon, 
live herrings. 

There was no poetry in our trout fishing, for compared 
with salmon roe in slippery, sticky, slimy chunks, fish 
worms are aesthetically dainty. 

There are several little lakes and more streams in the 
vicinity of Sitka ; some within reach for a day's fish- 
ing, and some within an hour's. The principal of these 
are Piseco Lake and stream, back of and running 1 
through the town ; Indian River and pond, Saw-Mill 
creek and lakes, from one to five miles to the eastward ; 
the Redoubt river, lake, and fall, seven miles to the 
southward ; and a nameless lake and outlet on Kruzoff 
Island, the lake embedded in a deep valley, one side of 
which is formed by the foot-hills of Mount Edgecomb, 
a noble, eternally snow-clad extinct volcano. In all of 
these trout or salmon are abundant in the season ; in 
some both, and in some are found species which do not 
exist in others. 

At the "Redoubt" I believe that all varieties and 
species are found. The place is named from a huge 



22 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

dam which, the Russians built across the mouth of a 
deep and wide ravine, thus forming a large lake of the 
river which here empties into the sea. The dam is 
provided with a number of salmon gates and traps. 
From the first run to the last, every passing school leaves 
here its tribute, seduced by the proximity of the beau- 
tiful lake ; which tribute, duly smoked or salted, is 
barrelled for the San Francisco market by a very " lone 
fisherman," a Russian who for many years, without 
other companionship than his klootchman (Indian wife) 
and dogs, has devoted his life to the business. 

If in this paper I make an occasional blunder, by 
transposition, or misapplication of the terms " specie" 
and " variety," or fail on a scientific nomenclature, I beg 
that it will be remembered that my claim is not to be 
an authority on icthyology, when such names are neces- 
sary, but on Alaska fish, which get along very well 
with their English, Indian, or Russian names. 

I find in my note-book memoranda of the capture of 
lathy mast er-signatus, chirus decca gram \us, and even a 
cotlus-polyacanthocephaloas, but had not Professor 
Bean instructed me, I should have continued (and I 
believe I did) to call the first two after the fish they 
most resembled, viz., rock cod and sea bass; and of 
the last named I have lost and forgotten the descrip- 
tion. But we can spare him ; the salmon and trout 
will, I feel sure, furnish all the material needed, and I 
will confine myself to them. 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 23 
THE SALMON". 

Eive species of salmon have been identified as found 
in Alaska ; these are : 

The Oncorhynchus Chouicha, 
The Oncorhynchus Keta, 
The Oncorhynchus Nerka, 
The Oncorhynchus Kisutch, 
The Oncorhynchus Garbosha. 

I am indebted to Professor Bean for the above list. 
In it I recognize some familiar Russian names, and I 
will supplement the nomenclature. The "Keta" is 
the big hump-backed salmon of the Yukon, sometimes 
attaining a weight of sixty pounds ; the Nerha is also 
called by the Russians Cr as sna-r edict, or red-fleshed ; 
and the distinction is well made, for compared with it, 
the flesh of the other species seems to fade into pink ; 
the "Kisutch" or "black throat" is so called on ac- 
count of the intense blackness of the roof of the mouth 
and throat ; the flesh is lighter red than the Nerhas, 
but more so than any other species, and as a table fish 
it excels all others, bringing twice the price at retail ; 
the Garbosha is the small hump-back, and strikingly 
resembles the " red fish " of Idaho. This is the only 
salmon that I am sure ascends any of the streams near 
Sitka, except at the Redoubt, where the Kisutch and 
Crassna-rebia are taken in late August and early Sep- 
tember. The common name for the garbosha is the 



24 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

" dog salmon/' and a more hideous object than one of 
them as found swimming listlessly or dying in one of 
the pools, it is hard to conceive of. I find this note of 
description: "Aug. 26th. — In a shallow pool I saw a 
fish some two feet long, feebly struggling as though 
he were trying to push himself ashore. I picked him 
up and laid him on the grass. A sicker fish never con- 
tinued to wag his tail ; his skin was yellow, picked out 
with green and blue spots, from an inch to three in 
diameter ; and one on his side was about an inch wide 
and six inches long, bleeding and raw as though gnawed 
by mice. One eye was gone, one gill cover eaten 
through, and every fin and the tail were but ragged 
bristles, all web between the rays having disap- 
peared." 

The first run of the salmon is well worth description. 
About the middle of May, varying from year to year 
by a few days only, the inhabitants of dull, sleepy old 
Sitka experience a sensation, and are aroused from the 
lethargy in which they have existed through the long 
winter. The word spreads like wildfire, the salmon 
are coming ! Everybody rushes to the heights which 
furnish prospect, and strain their eyes for confirma- 
tion. 

One of our sailors, musically inclined, paraphrased 
very neatly the old song, " The Campbells are Coming! 
huzza ! huzza ! " and achieved fame by portraying the 
emotions nightly under the lee of the forecastle. 

So good an outlook has been kept by the keen-eyed 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 25 

Indians, and the Creole boy in the belfry of the Greek 
church, that when first the glad tidings are announced, 
the fish are many miles away, and no signs of their ad- 
vent visible to the unpracticed eye. Far away to the 
southward, there hangs all winter a dense black bank, 
the accumulation of the constant uprising of vapor from 
the warm surface of the Kuro-siwo, or Japanese Gulf 
Stream, which washes the shores of this archipelago ; 
condensed by the cold winds sweeping over the snow- 
clad mountains to the northward, it is swept by them, 
and piled up as far as the eye can reach, covering and 
hiding the southern horizon as with a pall. 

Presently our glasses reveal bright flashes upon the 
face of this curtain ; and soon, to the naked eye, it ap- 
pears as though the whole horizon had been encircled 
with a coral reef, against which the dashing waves were 
being shattered into foamy breakers. The breakers ad- 
vance, and soon among them we discern black, rapidly- 
moving forms, and here our previous nautical experience 
comes into play, and, "Holy mither, d'ye mind the say 
pigs ! " as shouted by Paddy Sullivan, the captain of the 
afterguard, explains most graphically the phenomenon. 

The salmon are coming, and with them, among, and 
after them, a host of porpoises ; an army so great, that 
an attempt to estimate in numbers would be futile. 

The Bay and Sound of Sitka are dotted with many 
beautiful, well-wooded islands ; between them, the 
channels are deep and blue, and these are soon thronged 
by the fleeing salmon and their pursuers ; the harbor is 



26 FISHING WITH TEE FLY. 

soon reached ; but it does not prove one of safety, for 
although there are immense flats covered only at half to 
whole tide, where the salmon could, and the porpoises 
could not go, the former avoid them, and, clinging to the 
deep water, seek vainly the protection of our ship and 
boats, which do not deter the porpoises in the slight- 
est degree. For two or three days, our eyes, and at night, 
our ears, tell us that the warfare, or rather massacre, is 
unceasing ; then there comes an interval of several days, 
during which there are no salmon nor jwrpoises. 

I had formed an idea, a wrong one, that the presence 
of salmon would be made manifest by the leaping of the 
fish ; on the contrary, were we to judge by this sign 
alone, but very few had visited us. 

The first school had hardly gotten fairly into the 
harbor, before I, with others, was in pursuit. 

The cannery boats, and Indians, with their seines, 
and I with a trolling line and fly-rod. 

A single fish apparently, was at intervals of perhaps a 
minute, leaping near a point. Indian Dick, one of my 
staff, excitedly pointed that way, and urged me to go. 
"There ! there ! saivmo sugataheen " (plenty). I was in- 
clined to look elsewhere, or wait for a larger school ; but 
Dick remonstrated, "Man see one fish jump, sir, may 
he got thousand donH jump, he under." And Dick 
was right ; but a very small percentage leap from the 
water, of which I became more fully convinced when I 
went with Tom McCauley, head fisherman of the can- 
nery, on seining trips, or rather on a seining trip, for 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 27 

the affair disgusted me ; and, as with my experience of 
Spanisli bull-fighting, one trial was enough. Imagine 
so many fish that tons were the units used in estimating, 
penned up by the Avails of the seines, into an enclosure, 
massed so solidly that five Indians, striking rapidly at 
random into the mass, with short-handled gaff hooks, at 
such rate that, upon one day's fishing, this boat, 
manned by eight Indians and one white man, secured 
thirteen tons of marketable fish. It was bloody, nasty 
butchery, and sickened me. Not a fish attempted to 
leap out of the net. 

McCauley supplied me with some data, from his point 
of view. 

"About the middle of June, the fish are plentiful 
enough to start the cannery, and the season lasts from 
ten to twelve weeks." He has observed "Seven different 
hinds of salmon, all of which are good for canning and 
for the table; but two species which come latest are the 
most valuable, the flesh being very red and rich with oil" 
(Kisutch and Crassna Eebia) ; that "all of the salmon 
' dog' more or less, and that the dogging begins imme- 
diately after they have attempted to enter the streams, 
not before August ; that after this process has begun 
(and he discovered it in fish which, to my unexperienced 
eyes showed no signs of it) the value for canning teas 
depreciated," and all such he rejected, and gave to the 
flock of j)oor Indians, who, in their canoes, followed us 
to secure them. If McCauley's ideas are correct, the 
Alaska salmon caught in salt water, should be superior 



28 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

to those of the Columbia River and elsewhere, caught in 
brackish water. During the season of 1879 there was 
packed at this cannery, 144,000 lbs. of fish ; the 
largest catch of any one day was 36,000 lbs. (over 16 
tons) ; the greatest quantity canned, 9,000 lbs. ; the 
largest fish obtained, 51 lbs. ; and the average weight 
12 lbs. The cost of the fish can be estimated at 
less than one cent per pound. Just what "dogging" 
is, I don't know. McCauley's opinion, which was 
shared by many others familiar with the fishing, is that 
it is a sickness indicated by a change of form and 
color, produced by contact with fresh water, and that 
the most hideously hump-backed, hook -jawed, red and 
purple garbosha, was once a straight-backed, comely 
fish ; which, if true, upsets some theories. All I 
know about it is, that previous to the advent of the 
garboshas, in August, no change of form and color is 
observable in any of the fish, none of which enter the 
streams. During August, at the same time and place 
in the creeks, there can be seen garbosha salmon in all 
stages of the transformation, and the change in form 
and color is coincident. Some are silvery and nearly 
straight ; others tarnished, and with slight elevation 
of back ; others red, with greater protuberance ; and 
finally, some purple-red, with fully developed humps, 
which more than double their height above the median 
line ; and these monsters the Indians like best, and say 
that they are better for smoking than any other. 
Another idea which I had imbibed in regard to salmon, 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 29 

became greatly modified by my experience. I thought, 
and I believe many do, that the instinct which prompts 
the salmon to run in from the sea, is to reach, by the 
shortest route, the place of birth ; and that they make 
a straight wake from the ocean to the mouth of their na- 
tive creeks ; and that while impelled by this instinct, 
they refrain altogether from food. In all of this, I think 
that I was mistaken ; and that the fish which begin to 
swarm in Sitka Harbor in May, and continue coming 
and going for nearly three months before any enter the 
stream, are simply visitors, which, on their way north, 
are driven in to seek shelter from the porpoises and 
other enemies. 

That they feed at this time, I have plenty of evi- 
dence. We caught small ones, on hand-lines baited 
with venison. Numbers were taken trolling, using any 
ordinary spoon. I had with me pickerel, bass, and lake 
trout spoons, of brass and silvery surface. All were suc- 
cessful, the silvery ones the most so. 

And I had many good strikes upon spectahilis or 
salmon trout, of six to eight inches, spun on a gang and 
trolled. The Indians in Chatham Strait catch a great 
many upon hooks baited with live herring ; these are 
attached to short lines, which are fastened to duck- 
shaped wooden buoys, and allowed to float away from 
the canoe. I have myself been present at the capture of 
a number in this manner. 

The Greek Priest, and companies of the least poor of 
the Creoles, own seine boats, which go out daily ; and 



30 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

after every fair clay's seining the sandy beach in front of 
Russian town presents a picturesque appearance, dotted 
as it is with heaps of from one to three tons of salmon, 
whose silvery sheen reflects the light of the bonfires, 
around which, knives in hand, squat all the old squaws 
and children, cleaning on shares. Nearly all of the fish 
taken by them are smoked for winter's use. 

Every glacial stream in Alaska is, in its season, full 
of salmon, alive and dead. One, which for want of a 
better, was given my name, and appears on the charts 
as Beardslee River, I will describe ; for in it I saw, for 
the first time, that which had been described to me, 
but which I had doubted ; a stream so crowded with 
fish that one could hardly wade it and not step on them ; 
this and other as interesting sights fell to me that 
pleasant August day. 

As we, in our little steamer, neared William Henry 
Bay, situated on the west side of Chatham Strait, and an 
indentation of Baranoff Island, we found ourselves in a 
pea-green sea, dotted here and there with the backs of 
garbosha salmon ; the fish, which were of the few that 
had survived the crisis of reproduction, having drifted 
out of the bay, and with their huge humps projecting, 
were swimming aimlessly, and ajyparently blindly (for 
after anchoring, they would run against our boats, and 
directly into hands held out to catch them), in the 
brackish surface water ; made so and given its peculiar 
color by the water of Beardslee River, which arising at 
the foot of a glacier, had been fed by rivulets from 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 31 

others on its course to the sea, and through its lower 
specific gravity, rested upon the salt water. These sick 
salmon were so plentiful that I thought that a large per- 
centage had lived and escaped the danger, but upon 
landing at the mouth of the river, saw that I was mis- 
taken. For several miles the river meanders through 
an alluvial flat, the moraine of receded glaciers. The 
moraine was covered with a thick growth of timothy 
and wild barley, some standing six feet in height'; 
much more pressed flat by layers, three and four 
deep, of dead salmon, which had been left by the 
waters falling. Thousands of gulls and fish crows were 
feeding upon the eyes and entrails of these fish, and in 
the soft mud innumerable tracks of bears and other 
animals were interspersed with bodiless heads of salmon, 
showing that they, too, had attended the feast. I waded 
the river for over two miles, and the scene was always 
the same. That wade was one to be remembered. In 
advance of me generally, but checked at times by shoal 
water, there rushed a struggling and splashing mass of 
salmon, and when through the shoaling, or by turning 
a short corner, I got among them, progress was almost 
impossible ; they were around me, under me, and once 
when, through stepping on one I fell, I fancy over me. 
All were headed up stream, and I presumed, ascending, 
until, while resting on a dry rock, I noticed that many, 
although headed up, were actually slowly drifting down 
stream. 

In many pools that I passed, the gravel bottom was 



32 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

hollowed out into great wallows, from which, as I ap- 
proached, crowds of salmon would dart ; and I could 
see that the bottom was thickly covered with eggs, and 
feasting on them were numbers of immense salmon trout. 

I saw frequently the act of spawning ; and I saw once, 
a greedy trout rush at a female salmon, seize the exud- 
ing ova, and tear it away, and I thought that perhaps 
in some such rushes, lay the exjilanation of the wounds 
which so frequently are found on the female salmon's 
belly after spawning. 

At first, I thought there were two species of salmon 
in the creek ; one unmistakably the hideous garbosha, 
the other a dark straight-backed fish ; but upon exam- 
ining quite a number of each variety which I had picked 
up, I found that all the hump-backed fish were males, 
and the others all females ; that is, all that I examined ; 
but as they were all spent fish, I could not be sure. I 
therefore shot quite a number of livelier ones, and found 
confirmation. 

I saw one female that was just finishing spawning. 
She lay quiet, as though faint, for a couple of minutes, 
then began to tojDple slowly over on to her side, recovered - 
herself, and then, as though suddenly startled from a 
deep sleep, darted forward, and thrust herself half of 
her length out of the water, upon a gravel bar, and con- 
tinued to work her way until she was completely out of 
water, and there I left her to die. 

A very large proportion of the fish were more or less 
bruised and discolored ; and upon nearly all there ex- 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 33 

tended over the belly a fungoid growth resembling 
rough yellow blotting paper. 

The size of the fish was quite uniform, ranging from 
two feet to thirty inches. 

But that I had seen the living spent fish in the bay, I 
could have readily believed the truth of the impression 
of many, -that the act of spawning terminates the life of 
the salmon of the Pacific coast. 

One more point on the salmon, and I will leave them. 

Upon our first arrival, we all indulged very heartily 
upon them, and in two or three days, a new disease made 
its appearance among us. A number of us were seized 
with very severe gripes and cramps, and these lasted, in 
all cases, for several days, and in some for a much longer 
period, two of the men becoming so reduced that it 
was necessary to send them to hospital. The direct 
cause, our doctor ascertained, was the diet of salmon to 
which we had taken ; and by regulating and reducing 
the consumption, the difficulties were checked. 

In conclusion, I would say that I have made every 
effort that would naturally occur to a fisherman to take 
Alaska salmon with flies, of which I had good assort- 
ment, and never got a rise. 

ALASKA TROUT. 

I am indebted to Professor Tarleton H. Bean for a 

classification of the various trout, of which specimens 

had been duly bottled and labelled, during our stay in 

Alaska. I had fancied, from differences in the mark- 

3 



34 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

ings, that I had five species at the least, but Bean ruth- 
lessly cut the number down to three, viz. : 

Salvelina Malma, or Spectabilis, or Bairdii. 

Salmo Gardneri, and 

Salmo Purpur at/us, or Clark's trout. 

The first named, called commonly by us the salmon 
trout, was abundant in all of the streams, from about 
middle of June until middle of September, evidently 
timing their arrival and departure by the movements of 
the salmon, upon whose eggs they live. I have noted, 
on June 1st, "No salmon trout yet in any of the 
streams. Several fine, large ones captured by the In- 
dians in nets set in sea." Ten days after, the streams 
were full of them, and in the earlier part of the interim 
many would run into the pools of the low T er j>arts with 
the flooding tide, and out again on the ebb. 

When they left us in September, it is probable that 
they migrated south, for in a letter to Forest mid 
Stream, dated Portland, Oregon, September 28, a cor- 
respondent states that, in that month, "there begins to 
appear in the streams near the Columbia river, a trout," 
whose description tallies exactly with that of the spec- 
tabilis, except that the correspondent speaks of their 
affording fine sport ivitli the fly ; this the trout while in 
Alaska fails to do. At first, the spectaMlis affect the 
rapids, but after a few days seek the deep pools, where 
they gather in great numbers, and bite ravenously on 
hooks covered with spawn and sunk to the bottom. 
Occasionally, when spawn was out, we used a bit of fresh 



THE SALMON AND TRO UT OF ALASKA. 35 

venison ; but at the best they cared little for it, and 
when the blood became soaked out, the bait was useless. 
Although fairly gamey when hooked, fishing for these 
trout was but a poor substitute, for one who had felt and 
remembered the thrills caused by sudden strikes of our 
Adirondack fish. I have often when pool-fishing, seen 
them leisurely approach the bait, and nibble at it as 
a dainty, full-fed kitten will at a bit of meat, and when 
one did get the hook, we found it out only by a slight 
resistance to the series of light twitches which it was ne- 
cessary to give it. They have evidently been taught by 
experience that salmon roe is not apt to attempt escape. 
The usual size of the fish ranged from six to twelve 
inches — now and then one larger. The largest taken by 
any of us, near Sitka, fell victim to my "salmon spawn 
fly," and gave my little Orvis rod half an hour's good 
work. It measured twenty-one inches, but was very 
light for the length, Aveighing but two and three-quar- 
ter pounds. At the Redoubt river, much larger ones 
were taken ; and two which I shot in Beardslee river 
were over two feet in length ; how much they weighed 
I never found out, for their surroundings of sick and 
dying salmon, upon whose eggs they were feeding, prej- 
udiced me against them and I left them. 

In shape and color the special Ms vary greatly, both 
factors depending upon the length of time they have 
been in fresh water. When fresh run, they are long and 
lean, shaped somewhat like the lake trout of Adiron- 
dack lakes. The colors are dark lustrous olive-green 



36 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

back, growing lighter as the median line is approached, 
and blending into a silvery gray tint, which pales to a 
pure white on the belly ; the green portion is sprinkled 
with golden specks ; the flesh is hard, and very good for 
the table. After a very short sojourn in the creek, 
bright crimson specks appear among the golden, which, 
however, fade to a pale yellow ; the lustre of the green 
disappears, they become heavier, but the flesh becomes 
soft and uneatable, and the skin is covered with slime. 
Salmon trout taken late in August and early in Septem- 
ber, were full of ripe ova. 

Professor Bean placed some fish, that had been taken 
in salt water, into a bucket of fresh, and the crimson 
spots made their appearance in less than a day. 

When fully decked with these, and fattened, they 
resembled our fontanalis greatly — the head, however, 
being somewhat larger, and the tail less square. 

Salmo Gardneri. My acquaintance with this species 
is very limited. The first one, that I saw I took in 
Sawmill Creek, well up to the head, in September, 
1879. Seeing that it differed greatly from the specta- 
lilis, I preserved it in alcohol, and it was subsequently 
identified by Professor Bean. It measured a trifle over 
ten inches, and was very plump, weighing seven and a 
quarter ounces. In my notes, I describe it thus : 
" Body, dark green on back, but in general colors very 
much like a steel head or quinnat salmon ; covered with 
round, black spots, from one-sixteenth to one-eighth 
inch in diameter ; these extend considerably below the 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 3? 

median line, and the tail and dorsal fins are covered 
with them ; the second dorsal adipose, bnt less so than 
that of the fontanalis, having a slight show of mem- 
brane, on which there are fonr spots ; ventral and anal 
fins, yellowish in centre, bordered with red ; belly, dnll 
white ; tail, nearly square ; scales, quite large, about 
the size of those of a fingerling chub ; flesh, firm ; and 
skin, not slimy. No signs of ova or milt." 

On the 28th of April, 1880, I made note : " The 
first salmon of the season made their debut to-day — 
that is, if they are salmon, which I doubt. 

"Five beauties, from thirty to forty inches long, were 
brought alongside, in a canoe paddled by a wild-looking 
and awe-struck Si wash, who, with his crouching Klootch- 
man and papoose, gazed upon our ship, guns, and us 
with an expression that showed them to be unfamiliar 
sights. He was evidently a stranger, and was taken in, 
for he took willingly two bits (25 cents) each for the 
fish, and no Sitka Siwash but would have charged treble 
the price. Through an interpreter, I learned that he had 
spent the last seven months in a shanty on the western 
side of Kruzoff Island, and that well up, among the 
foot-hills of Mount Edgecomb, there was a little lake, 
from which there flowed a small stream into the Pacific, 
and that in the headwaters of this stream he had speared 
these fish, which run up the stream in the fall, remain 
all winter in the lake, and in early spring spawn in the 
head of the outlet." 

All of this militated strongly against the theory that 



38 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

they were salmon, and when, on being dressed, the fe- 
males were found to be fnll of ripe ova, said theory was 
upset completely. My ten-inch specimen of last Sep- 
tember supplied us with a clue, and it was soon decided 
that these magnificent fish were indeed trout ; for in 
every respect except size, and size of spots, some of 
which were a quarter of an inch in diameter, the fish 
were identical. Whitford, the oldest inhabitant, con- 
firmed the Indian's story, and gave me in addition the 
Indian name for the fish — " Quot," and that of the Rus- 
sians, which I forget, but it meant " Mountain Trout," 
and said that they are found only in the lakes, high up 
in the mountains, and that in winter the Indians spear 
and catch them through holes in the ice. 

We found the flesh to be very delicious — far more so 
than the best of the salmon. The processes of cooking, 
both by broiling and boiling, had a curious effect, for 
the flesh, which, when uncooked, was of a very bright 
red, blanched to pure white. 

The trip to Mount Edgccomb, in the early spring, 
involved hardship and danger ; and although several of 
us resolved that we would undertake it, for the sake of 
such fish, somehow we never did, and I have thus de- 
scribed all of the gardneri that I ever saw. 

Sahno purpuratus (Clarlcii). The most beautiful 
of the trout family, although in no way equal to our 
Eastern trout in any other respect. 

The purpuratus is a lake trout, and found only in 
low-lying lakes. Just back of Sitka, at the foot of the 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 39 

mountains, and elevated perhaps twenty feet above the 
sea, is a little lake dubbed by me "Piseco." 

Handy to get at, and its outlet running through the 
centre of the town, it became, in early spring, our first 
resort for fishing. Arriving in June, 1879, many of us 
had, through days of fruitless endeavor, during the 
summer and autumn, grown to disbelieve the tales of 
the inhabitants, that this lake abounded in trout ; but 
on the 20th of May, 18S0, from somewhere, there 
thronged the shallow edges, among the lily pads, great 
schools of these trout, and for about two weeks there 
was no limit to the number one could take of them. 
Salmon spawn was the best bait, but a bit of venison 
would answer. A fly they would not rise to. In size, 
they ranged from six to twelve inches — the latter size 
being, however, very exceptional ; their average was 
about eight inches. The description in my notes is : 
"Specimen, May 27th. Length, nine and one-half 
inches ; depth, two and three-eighth inches ; weight, 
five ounces ; colors — back, rich, dark brown, growing 
lighter toward medial line ; at which, covering it for a 
space of half an inch, there is a longitudinal stripe of 
rich purple, extending from opercle nearly to tail ; be- 
low the median line, bright olive-green, lightening to 
silvery w T hite on belly. All of the tinted portion is pro- 
fusely sprinkled with oval black spots, which mark also 
the dorsal, caudal, and adipose fins ; the ventral and 
anal fins are yellowish bordered with crimson; tail, 
nearly square. 



40 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

" The entire tinted portion lias a beautiful golden iri- 
descence, so that when held in the sunlight, and looked 
at from the rear, it seems to be gilded." It may be no- 
ticed that, with the exception of the purple stripe and 
the golden iridescence, the description of this fish is al- 
most identical with that of the gardncri. I think it 
quite possible that they are the same at different ages, 
and that later in life these Clarkii may become ambi- 
tious and seek more lofty lakes. None that were taken 
contained ova. 

Where they came from, unless they run up the in- 
let at night, no one found out, for although closely 
watched in the daytime, none were ever seen in it. 

After about two weeks the greater portion disap- 
peared, and although sought in the deep waters of the 
lake, could not be found. Major William Governeur 
Morris, the Collector of Customs of Alaska, assures me, 
however, that during the summer of 1882, he found 
certain places in the lake where he caught them until 
August. On July 4th he with a friend catching four 
hundred and three in three hours, baiting with a single 
salmon egg. 

I am not sure that we could not have again found 
them, but the fishing having grown slack in the lake, 
and growing daily better in the creeks, we spent most 
of our time on the latter. 

COMPARISON" OF ALASKA WITH EASTERN TROUT. 

The principal differences between the Alaska and 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 41 

Eastern trout are, first, all Alaskans have liyoid teeth, 
the eastern trout have not. 

No Alaskan trout will take a fly. All Alaskan trout, 
I think, spend a portion of their lives in salt water. 
Length being equal, the Alaska trout, with the excep- 
tion of the Gardneri, or mountain trout, are lighter 
than those of our eastern streams. 

Using as a standard the average weight of a number 
of ten-inch Adirondack trout, the following table will 
show this : 

Font^nalis-Adirondack, length 10 inches, weight 6 oz. 



Fresh-run Spectabilis, 


(< 


10 " 


a 


5 oz. 20 grains, 


Crimson -specked " 


(< 


10.3 " 


t i 


5 oz. 106 " 


Salrao Clarkii, 


«( 


9.G " 


a 


5 oz. 


Salmo Gardneri, 


(« 


10.1 " 


a 


7i oz. 



In conclusion, I must again request that this contri- 
bution shall not be considered and judged as an attempt 
to scientifically describe the fish treated upon, but 
rather as what it really is, a condensation of the field- 
notes of an amateur angler. 

I have, in giving the sizes, weights, and other data 
in regard to the Alaska salmon and trout, depended 
almost entirely upon my personal knowledge and ex- 
perience ; it may not be out of place to add to them 
some data gathered from reliable authorities. 

In his report on the resources of Alaska, Major Wm. 
Governeur Morris writes : " Sixty thousand Indians and 
several thousand Aleuts "and Esquimaux depend for the 



42 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

most part upon dried salmon for their winter suste- 
nance." 

The Hon. Wm. S. Dodge, formerly Mayor of Sitka, 
states in an official report : " And additional testimony 
comes to us from numerous persons, that at Cook's In- 
let the salmon average in weight sixty pounds, and some 
of them reach a weight of one hundred and twenty 
pounds, and Mr. T. G. Murphy only last week brought 
down from there on the Newbern a barrel full, con- 
taining only four fish." Surgeon Thomas T. Minor, 
who some years ago visited Cook's Inlet, in connection 
with business of the Smithsonian Institution, makes 
statements which confirm the foregoing. 

In the vicinity of Klawack a cannery is established. 
A catch of seven thousand fish at one haul of the seines 
is not unusual, many weighing over forty pounds. 

Mr. Frederick Whymper, artist to the Russian Over- 
land Telegraph Expedition, says in his well-written 
and interesting account of his adventures: " The 
Yukon salmon is by no means to be despised. One 
large variety is so rich that there is no necessity when 
frying it to ]>ut fat in the pan. The fish sometimes 
measure five feet in length, and I have seen boats whose 
sides were made of the tough skin." 

And a writer who, if disposed to strain the truth 
would not do so to say anything in favor of Alaska, 
says in an article in Harper's Magazine, Vol. LV. 
page 815 : "The number of spawning fish that as- 
cend the Yukon every June or July is something 



THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 43 

fabulous. ... It would appear reasonable to an- 
ticipate, therefore, the adoption by our fishermen 
of some machinery by which they can visit the Yukon 
when the salmon begin to run, and while they ascend 
the river catch a million pounds a day, for the raw ma- 
terial is there, of the largest size, the finest flavor, and 
the greatest number known to any stream in the 
world." 

My general views about Alaska differ widely from 
those of the writer, but on the salmon question, I in- 
dorse all I have quoted, excepting only the word flavor. 

I do not think the Alaska salmon equal in this respect 
to those of the Atlantic coast, and far behind those of 
the Rhine ; they are, however, superior to those of the 
Columbia River. 

In speaking of the salmon, I find I have omitted to 
mention that in early spring, before the arrival of the 
salmon trout, and after their departure in fall, great 
quantities of fingerling salmon pervaded the streams, 
and bit eagerly at any kind of meat bait. 

While the sjwctabilis were present, these little fellows 
kept out of sight and notice. 

Since the body of this paper was written there has 
been on exhibition by Mr. Blackford, of Fulton Mar- 
ket, New York, a number of trout, pronounced to be 
the salmo irideus, one of which, weighing fifteen pounds, 
was sent to the Smithsonian Institution, and there iden- 
tified by Professor Bean as being " Salmo gar clneri, the 
great trout of Edgecoml Lake," 



44 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

I, studying these fish in their glass tank, did not 
form this opinion, for Blackford's trout had a broad 
red band extening from just back of the eye to the tail, 
covering the opercule, a marking not existing on any 
of the Edgecomb trout I have seen. But the Professor 
assures me that "color on the lateral line is not a spe- 
cific character " On comparing my notes of descrip- 
tion of these fish, I find that in all other respects they 
did appear identical, hence that the conclusion arrived 
at by Prof. Bean, that " the gardneri and the irideus 
(or rainbow trout of McCloud River), are identical 
seems well founded. If so, and my crude supposition 
that the Clarhii, obtained in Piseco Lake near Sitka 
are also identical with the gardneri turns out to be 
correct, there can be a condensation of nomenclature, 
which will lead to at least one valuable result from this 
paper. 



3L^LKE FLIES, 




Made by C.F.ORVIS. Manchester^ 



CO PYR I G H T E D 



"No sooner had the barbed hook fastened in its insidious hold, 
and the impaled monarch learned that he was captive, than every 
effort of his lithe and agile frame was brought into play to re- 
cover freedom. In every struggle, in every effort to burst J he bonds 
that made him captive, there was an utter reckles of conse- 

quences, a disregard for life that was previously unku n, as from 
side to side of the pool h.2 rushed, or headlong stem xl the sweep- 
ing current. Nor did the hero confine hhnsel!. to disown element; 
again and again he burst from its surface lO fall back fatigued, 
but not conquered. The battle was a sev ; *e one, a struggle to 
the death ; and when the landing net placed the victim at my 
feet, I felt that he had died the death of a hero . Such was my 
first sea-trout, no gamer, truly, than hundreds I have captured 
since ; but what can be expected of a race of which every member 
is a hero ? " — Parker Gihnore. 

i. Silver Doctor. 2. Scarlet Ibis. 

3. Black June. 4. Gray Drake. 

5. Captain. 6. Academy. 



" If, indeed, you be an angler, join us and . eleome, for then it 
is known to you that no man is in perfect condition to enjoy 
scenery unless he have a fly-rod in his hand and a fly-book in his 
pocket." — Wm. C. Prime. 

- "It was something more than a splendid trout that he brought 
to our view as we met him at the landing. The young heart in 
the old body — the genuine enthusiasm of the veteran angler — the 
glorification of the gentle art which has soothed and comforted 
many an aged philosopher — all this he revealed to us, and we 
wanted to lift the grand old man to our shoulders and bear him 
in reverent triumph up the ascent." — A. Judd JSForthr^p. 

"From the fisherman's point of view, the sea trout is equal to 
the finest grilse that ever ascended Tay or Tweed, exceeding, as 



he does, for gameness and pertinacity every other British fish." 
— David Foster. 

"As to flies, the indifference of sea-trout about kind, when 
they are in the humor to take any, almost warrants the belief of 
some anglers that they leap in mere sport at whatever chances to 
be floating. It is true they will take incredible combinations, 
as if color-blind and blind to form. But experiments on their 
caprice are not safe. If their desire is to be tempted, that may 
most surely be done with three insects, adapted to proper places 
and seasons. One need not go beyond the range of a red-bodied 
fly with blue tip and wood-duck wings for ordinary use, a small 
all gray fly for low water in bright light, and a yellowish fly, 
green striped and winged with curlew feathers, for a fine cast 
under the alders for the patriarchs." — A. R. Macdonough. 

"His tackle, for bricht airless days, is o' gossamere ; and at a 
wee distance aff, you think he's fishin' without ony line ava, till 
whirr gangs the pirn, and up springs the sea-trout, silver-bricht, 
twa yards out o' the water, by a delicate jerk o' the wrist, hyucked 
inextricably by the tongue clean ower the barb o' the kirby-bend. 
Midge-flees!"— The Ettrick Shepherd. 

" 0, sir, doubt not but that Angling is an art ; is it not an art 
to deceive a trout with an artificial fly ?"—lzaak-Walton. 

"Sea-trout show themselves wherever salmon are found, but 
not always simultaneously with them. In rivers where the sal- 
mon run begins in May or early June, you need not look for 
sea-trout in any considerable numbers before well on into July. 
Intermediately they are found in tide- water at the mouths of the 
salmon rivers, and often in such numbers and of such weight 
as give the angler superb sport."— George Dawson. 



SEA-TROUT. 

BY 

FITZ JAMES FITCH. 



Sunday morning, August 2, 1874, found us, Mr. A. 
R. Macdonough and me, at Tadousac, a French Canadian 
village, very small for its age, situated on the northeast 
shore of the Saguenay River, one and a half miles from 
the junction of its dark and mighty waters with the 
turbid and mightier St. Lawrence. This day was the 
beginning of the culmination of four months of prepa- 
ration for a month's release from the business world, 
its toil, care and worry. The preparations began with 
the payment of $150 in gold — $171.20 currency — the 
rent named in a lease securing to us the exclusive right 
to fish a river on the north shore of, and emptying into, 
the St. Lawrence many miles below the Saguenay. We 
left New York sweltering in a temperature that sent 
the mercury up to the nineties ; were fanned by the 
cool evening breeze of the Hudson, and later by the 
cooler breath of the old Catskills, around which cluster 
the recollections and associations of thirty years of my 
life. We had travelled by rail to Montreal, 412 miles, 
and spent a day there ; by steamboat to Quebec, 
180 miles, where we passed twenty-four hours. We 



48 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

had left this, the most interesting city of English- 
speaking North America, in the morning by steamboat, 
and, after a day of delights upon this majestic river, 
the St. Lawrence, reached L'Anse a l'Eau, the landing 
for Tadousac, 130 miles, in the evening of August 1st. 
We felt as we walked out upon the wide piazza of -the 
Tadousac Hotel that 

" simmer Sunday morn 

When Nature's face was fair," 

and looked up that mysterious river, the Saguenay, 
and upon its castellated mountains of granite, that in- 
deed " the lines had fallen to us in pleasant places." 

We had reaclfed the end, as our course lay, of rail- 
roads and steamboat lines, and must finish our journey 
in chaloupe and birch-bark canoe. We were there to 
leave civilization and its conveniences for nature and 
primitive modes of life. In the story I am relating my 
progress up to this point has been as rapid as was our 
transit. From this point on it must correspond with 
our slower mode of progression ; and hence there must 
be more of detail in what follows. I hope, but cannot 
expect, that the reader will find the change as agreeable 
and free from irksomeness as we found our chalotqie, 
canoe, tent, and life in the woods. 

After an excellent breakfast, we lighted cigars and 
walked down to the humble cottage of my guide, 
David, on the beach of the little bay of Tadousac, who 
had in charge our tents, stores, camp equipments, and 
three new birch-bark canoes^ ordered months before. 



SEA. TROUT. 49 

and for which we paid $75 in gold. David paddled us 
out to our chaloupe, anchored in the bay, and intro- 
duced me to Captain Edward Ovington, master, and 
his nephew, Fabian, a lad of sixteen or seventeen 
years, his mate. The chaloupe was thirty feet " foio 
and aft ; " beam, 9^ feet. Six or eight feet aft we 
called the quarter-deck. A comfortable seat surrounded 
three sides of it, affording sittings for eight or ten per- 
sons. ^Next forward of this, and separated from it by a 
bulkhead, was a space of six or eight feet for freight. 
Next came our cabin, eight by nine feet, and just high 
enough to enable us to sit upright on the low shelf 
which was to serve as a seat by day an4 bed at night. 
Then came the forecastle, in which was a very small 
cooking stove. The vessel was rigged with main and 
topmast, strengthened by iron shrouds, with a large 
ma'insail, topsail, jib and "jigger," as it is called by 
Canadian boatmen. It was in respect to the jigger that 
the craft differed from a sloop-rigged yacht or boat. 
Clear aft, and back of the rudder-post, was a mast about 
fifteen feet high ; running from the stern of the vessel 
Avas a stationary jigger boom, something like the jib- 
boom, except that it was horizontal ; on these was 
rigged a sail in shape like the mainsail. The boat was 
a fair sailer, strong, well built, and from four to six 
tons burden. In returning to the hotel we stopped at 
and entered the little French Roman Catholic Church. 
It is not known when it was erected. Jacques Cartier, 
in his second visit to America, in 1535, explored the 
4 



50 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

Saguenay ; and Father Marquette made Tadousac his 
residence for a short time. "When he first came to this 
country in 1GG5, tradition tells us, he established a mis- 
sion there and built a log chapel on the site where the 
church we entered stands. The latter is a wooden 
building, about twenty-five by thirty feet, w T ith a hand- 
some altar placed in a recess chancel, the rear wall of 
which is adorned with three oil paintings. The centre 
one, over the altar, was the Crucifixion. A small porch, 
or vestibule, of rough boards, had been added in mod- 
ern times. A little antique bell swung in the belfry 
on the east gable, which was surmounted by an iron 
floriated cross. The church was filled with devout 
Jiahitans, mainly — there was a sprinkling of summer 
boarders and anglers — who listened with apparent in- 
terest to the extempore sermon of a young French 
priest of prepossessing appearance and manner. In 
the afternoon I attended the English Episcopal Church, 
about a mile from the hotel, and midway between Ta- 
dousac and L'Anse a l'Eau. Here I felt quite at home, 
enjoyed the services, and joined heartily in the prayer 
for the " Queen, the Royal Family, and all who are in 
authority." I was compelled to put a U. S. green- 
back, to represent my contribution of one dollar, upon 
the plate. I have been sorry ever since that I did not 
secure a reputation for honesty and fair dealing by add- 
ing a clime to pay the premium on gold, and thus make 
good our (then) depreciated currency. 

August 3d. — A gray flannel suit and shirt were 



SEA-TROUT. 51 

donned this morning. Our fishing clothes and para- 
phernalia were packed in large canvas bags, toilet arti- 
cles, etc., in grip sacks, and all else left in our Saratoga 
trunks, and in charge of the hotel manager until our 
return. At 11 o'clock we walked down to the beach 
where David and the Captain met us with our respec- 
tive canoes. I asked " Dah-veede " (lie was very 
particular about the pronunciation of his name), "how 
shall I dispose of myself in this cranky thing ? " " Sit 
down on the bottom, sir." The latter part of the sit- 
ting process was rather emphatic. I wondered how I 
was to get up ! All being on board the good clialoupe 
Quebec, the- sails were spread to the breeze, and by one 
o'clock we had beat out of the bay, down the Sague- 
nay, and were on the St. Lawrence. As we sailed, 
the canoes which had been in tow were hoisted on 
deck ; one, turned ujdou its side, was lashed to the 
shrouds of the vessel on either side, and the third, 
turned bottom up, was laid upon the cabin deck. The 
wind was N. W., and favorable, so that we made about 
eight knots an hour. We landed at Escomains, to take 
on board Pierre Jacques, a full-blooded Indian, pos- 
sessing the usual characteristics of his race — laziness 
and love of whiskey. He was Mr. Macdonongh's guide ; 
and, despite the weaknesses mentioned, ju'oved a good 
guide and a most skilful canoeist. We continued to 
sail until ten o'clock at night, when we dropped anchor. 
The night was dark and rainy, the wind fresh, and the 
river very rough, causing our little craft to dance, roll, 



52 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

and pitch in a most disgusting manner. We had no 
seasickness on board, but much wakefulness on my side 
of the cabin. Being thus " Rocked in the cradle of 
the deep/' was not a success as a soporific, in my case, 
at least. 

August Ath. — Seven o'clock, A. m. We have been 
sailing since daylight this morning, and are now at 
anchor near the Sault au Cochon. Mr. Macdonough 
had occasion to visit a country store near the falls, and 
suggested that I try to catch a trout for breakfast. 
The stream which empties into the St. Lawrence here 
is of considerable size — say forty feet wide — and pours 
over a ledge of rocks, or precipice, about fifty feet in 
height, into the head of a small bay. The water under 
and near the fall is very rougli and swift. My guide 
launched my canoe, paddled me out, and placed me in 
such a position that I could cast in the eddy formed 
by the swift waters from the fall. With a hornbeam 
rod, of ten ounces in weight, and twelve feet in length, 
armed with two flies, I whipped the waters. A few 
casts brought up a trout. I saw its head as it rose for 
my dropper, struck, and hooked the fish. It ran down 
with the current, my click reel singing the tune so de- 
lightful to anglers' ears, until near one hundred feet of 
line was out. Placing my gloved thumb upon the 
barrel of the reel, I checked its progress. The trout 
dashed right and left, from and towards me, at times 
putting my tackle to a severe test. It kept below the 
surface of the water ; therefore, I could only judge of 



SEA-TROUT. 53 

the size of my captive by the strength it exerted in its 
efforts to escape. My enthusiastic guide was much ex- 
cited, and cheered me by such remarks as, " Juge he 
big trout. He weigh three, four, five pounds ! He 
very big trout ! " I concurred in his opinion, as it often 
required the utmost strength of my right hand and 
wrist to hold my rod at the proper angle. After play- 
ing the fish fifteen or twenty minutes, without its 
showing any signs of exhaustion, I slowly, and by sheer 
force, reeled the fish to the canoe, and my guide 
scooped it out with the landing net. I then discovered 
it was not the monster we had supposed it to be, 
but that it was hooked by the tail fly at the roots of 
the caudal fin. The fish was killed, by a blow upon the 
head, and weighed. The scales showed two pounds 
two ounces. The guide paddled ashore, and upon the 
rocks near the falls built a fire, and prepared our 
breakfast. The fish was split open on the back, spread 
out upon a plank, to which it was secured by w^ooden 
pegs, set up before the fire, and thus broiled, or more 
properly, roasted. A more delicious trout I never tasted. 

Up to this point, w T hat has been written has been 
abstracted from the prolix journal that I kept of this 
bout. 

As I have taken my first sea-trout from Canadian 
waters it is fitting that I turn to the subject of this 
article, 

SEA-TROUT. 

Like all anadromous fishes its "ways are dark and 



54 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

past finding out." Hence scientists, naturalists, anglers 
and guides differ widely and materially in regard to its 
proper name, its species, and its habits. Scarcely any 
two writers upon the subject have agreed in all these 
points. Sea-trout {Salmo Trutta) abound in northern 
Europe. As stated by Foster in his "Scientific An- 
gler," in "nearly every beck and burn, loch and river 
of Scotland and Ireland ; and are readily taken with a 
3y." These sea-trout have been mentioned and de- 
scribed by many eminent writers — Sir Humphry Davy, 
Yarrel, Foster, and others. The description given of 
this fish, the number of rays in its fins, its coloring 
and markings, and lastly the absence of all red or ver- 
milion spots render it absolutely certain that they are 
not in species identical with the sea trout of the Domin- 
ion of Canada. 

As is shown by Thaddeus Norris, in his admirable 
work, " The American Angler's Book," conclusively I 
think, the supposed identity of the two kinds of 
sea-trout mentioned have led many writers astray 
when speaking of the sea-trout found in American 
waters. 

Norris has applied to the latter fish the name Salmo 
Canadensis, given, I believe, by Col. Hamilton Smith, 
in 1834. Whether icthyologists can find a better or 
more appropriate one matters not. It is desirable that 
there be a name to distinguish this fish from all others, 
and this one, if generally adopted, will serve all neces- 
sary purposes. 



SEA-TROUT. 55 

In describing the fish Norris writes thus : "A Ca- 
nadian trout, fresh from the sea, as compared with the 
brook trout, has larger and more distinct scales ; the 
form is not so much compressed ; the markings on the 
back are lighter and not so vermiculated in form, but 
resemble more the broken segments of a circle ; it has 
fewer red spots, which are also less distinct." He also 
thinks the sea-trout, until they attain the weight of 
two pounds, more slender in form. Again I quote ver- 
batim : " In color, when fresh run from the sea, this 
fish is a light, bluish green on the back, light silvery 
gray on the sides, and brilliant white on the belly ; the 
ventral and anal fins entirely white ; the pectorals 
brownish blue in front and the posterior rays rosy 
white. The tail is quite forked in the young fish, as 
in all the salmonidae, but when fully grown is slightly 
lunate." 

Genio C. Scott, who laid no claim to being a scient- 
ist, but who was a close observer, also compares the 
same fish, which he calls the Silver-trout or sea-trout, 
Trutta Argentina, or Trutta Marina, with the brook 
trout. He says, " The sea- trout is similar to the brook- 
trout in all facial peculiarities. It is shaped like the 
brook-trout. The vermicular marks on the back, and 
above the lateral line, are like those of the brook-trout; 
its vermicular white and amber dots are like the brook- 
trout's ; its fins are like the brook-trout's, even to the 
square or slightly lunate end of the tail. It has the 
amber back and silver sides of such brook- trout as have 



56 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

access to the estuary food of the eggs of different fishes, 
the young herring/' etc. 

These descriptions differ but little, and are, I believe, 
as accurate in the main as can be given. Both these 
writers, as will be seen, are discussing, and have taken 
opposite sides upon the question, whether the Canadian 
sea-trout is an anadromous brook-trout. This question 
was very well presented by Mr. Macdonough (my com- 
panion) in an article entitled " Sea-Trout Fishing," 
published in Scribner's Monthly Magazine for May, 
1877. He begins thus: "What is a sea-trout? A 
problem to begin with, though quite a minor one, since 
naturalists have for some time past kept specimens 
waiting their leisure to decide whether he is a cadet of 
the noble salmon race, or merely the chief of the fa- 
miliar brook-trout tribe. Science inclines to the former 
view upon certain slight but sure indications noted in 
spines and gill covers. The witness of guides and gaf- 
fers leads the same way ; and the Indians all say that 
the habits of the sea-trout and brook-trout differ, and 
that the contrast between the markings of the two 
kinds of fish taken from the same pool, forbids the idea 
of their identity. Yet the testimony of many accom- 
plished sportsmen affirms it. The gradual change of 
color in the same fish as he ascends the stream from 
plain silvery gray to deepest dotted bronze ; his haunts 
at the lower end of pools, behind rocks, and among 
roots ; his action in taking the fly with an upward leap, 
not downwards from above — all these resemblances 



SEA-TROUT. 57 

support the theory that the sea-trout is only an anad- 
romous brook-trout. . . . Indeed the difference in 
color between the brook-trout and sea-trout ranges 
within a far narrower scale than that between parr, 
grilse, and salmon." The reader who has not read the 
paper would doubtless thank me for quoting it entire. 
As will have been seen, the conscientious and lamented 
Thad. Norris, when he wrote as above quoted, thought 
that the Canadian sea-trout were not the English Sahno 
Trutta, nor the Salmo Fontinalis, and as proof gave 
this table showing the number of rays in the fins of the 
following fish : 



Sea-trout (S. Trutta) 

Canadian Trout (S. Canadensis) 

Brook or River Trout (S. Fontinalis). 



D. 



12 

10 
10 



p. 



13 
13 
12 



C. 



19 
19 
19 



He adds, speaking of the last two fish—" there be- 
ing only a difference of one ray in the pectorals, which 
may be accidental." I am credibly informed that some 
years after his book was written, and after a more 
familiar acquaintance with the S. Canadensis, his views 
underwent an entire change, and that he wrote "the 
S. Canadensis is the 8. Fontinalis gone to sea." 

The space allowed me for this paper will not admit 
of my quoting further from the writings of those above 
mentioned or of others upon this subject. 

I will now state, as briefly as I can, my own views re- 



58 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

suiting from long familiarity with brook-trout, gained 
by thirty-five years of angling for them, my acquaint- 
ance with the sea-trout of Long Island, and those found 
in Canadian waters. In regard to the markings of the 
fish immediately after migrating from salt to fresh water 
it is unnecessary to say more, except that the vermicu- 
lar marks differ somewhat in different fish. Some that 
I caught and examined closely had, as Scott says, "ver- 
miculate marks on the back very plain and distinct." 
And on others, as Norris writes, "the markings on the 
back were lighter and not so vermiculated in form, but 
resembling more the broken segments of a circle." The 
fish in this respect differ from each other far less than 
often do brook trout, taken from the same pool. Nor- 
ris thinks the sea-trout more slender in form than the 
brook-trout until the former attains the weight of two 
pounds. I have not been able to discover this differ- 
ence between sea-trout and the brook-trout taken from 
the waters of this State. The trout of Rangeley Lake, 
and waters adjacent in Maine (I assume, as I believe, 
they are genuine brook trout), are thicker and shorter 
than trout of the same weight caught in the State of 
New York, or the Canadian sea- trout. I have two 
careful and accurate drawings — one of a sea-trout which 
weighed four and one-quarter pounds, and measured 
twenty-two and one-half inches in length, and five and 
one-eighth inches in depth — the other of a Eangeley 
trout that weighed eight pounds, and measured twenty- 
six inches in length, and eight and a half inches in 



SEA-TROUT. 



59 



depth. I have seen and measured several Rangeley 
trout— two of seven pounds each, one of four and one- 
half pounds, etc., and in all I think there was a similar 
disproportion as compared with the other trout above 
mentioned. 

As regards the number of rays in the fins of sea-trout 
I can only say that while fishing for them I counted 
the rays and found them to compare in number with 
those of the brook-trout as given by Norris in the table 
inserted ante. 

All the writers from whom I have quoted, and all 
persons with whom I have conversed who have fished 
for these sea- trout, concur in the opinion that soon after 
the sea- trout enters fresh water, a change in color and 
appearance begins, which ends in assimilating, as nearly 
as may be, the fish in question to the brook trout. On 
the first day's fishing, when my guide accompanied me, 
he opened the mouth of a trout and called my attention 
to small parasites— "Sea-lice," he called them— in the 
mouth and throat of the fish. He said that the pres- 
ence of these parasites was a sure indication that the 
fish had just left the salt water ; that they would soon 
disappear in fresh water. As a matter of curiosity I 
examined the mouths of several fish, and invariably 
found that if they presented the appearance described 
by ISTorris and Scott, the parasites were present ; but if 
they had assumed a gayer livery none were to be found. 
The change in color, which begins with the trout's ad- 
vent to fresh water, is progressive, and ceases only when 



60 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

the object of its mission, the deposit and impregnation 
of the spawn, is accomplished. In proof of this I will 
state that during the last days of our stay on the 
stream, and notably in fish taken fifteen or twenty miles 
from tide water, it was not infrequent that we caught 
trout as gorgeous and brilliant in color as the male 
brook trout at the spawning season. Whether this 
change of color is attributable to the character of the 
water in which it " lives, moves, and has its being," to 
the food it eats, or other causes, it is impossible to say. 
I often caught from the same or adjacent pools, trout 
fresh from the sea and dull in color, and those showing 
in a greater or less degree the brilliancy of the moun- 
tain brook trout. Of course they differ widely in ap- 
pearance, and therefore it is not surprising that the 
" Indians all say," as expressed by Mr. Macdonough, 
"that the contrast between the markings of the two 
kinds of fish forbids the idea of their identity." 

As mentioned by Mr. Macdonough the sea- trout have 
their "haunts at the lower end of pools" [and upper 
end he might have added with truth], "behind rocks, 
among roots," in short, in the same parts of a stream 
that an experienced angler expects to find and does find 
the brook trout. 

The sea trout will take the same bait, rise at the same 
fly, and rest at the same hours of the day, as brook trout. 
The flies that I ordered, made from samples furnished 
by Mr. Macdonough, who had had some years' experience 
on the stream before I accompanied him, were much 



SEA-TROUT. 61 

larger and more gaudy than the usual trout flies, and 
ordinarily were sufficiently talcing in character ; hut, on 
very bright days, when the water was low and clear, we 
found that the flies used by us on the Beaver Kill, and 
Neversink, in Sullivan County, New York, were better. 
The largest trout taken by us on this bout — four and 
one-quarter pounds — was hooked with a stone fly made 
by Pritchard Brothers, of New York, for use on those 
streams. On one occasion, I took at one cast, and 
landed safely, two trout, weighing three pounds and 
one-quarter, and one and three-quarters pounds, re- 
spectively, upon one of the said stone flies and a medium- 
sized gray hackle. 

In conclusion of this part of my article, I will say. 
that, for the reasons above given, I have no doubt but 
that the Canada sea-trout are anadromous brook trout, 
and that they should be classed with the salmo fonti- 
nalis, or, if preferred, salvelinus fontinalis. 

The trout in question come up the St. Lawrence from 
the ocean in large numbers, and file off, probably in ac- 
cordance with the instinct of anadromous fishes, to the 
streams in which they were severally hatched. The de- 
tachment for our stream reaches it invariably in the 
first days of August. " When once fairly in the current " 
(I quote from Mr. Macdonough's paper), " their move- 
ments up-stream are very rapid. Passionless and almost 
sexless, as the mode of the nuptials, they are on their 
way to complete, may seem to more highly organized 
beings, they drive with headlong eagerness through tor- 



62 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

rent and foam, toward the shining reaches and gravelly 
beds far np the river, where their ova are to be deposited. " 
They stop for but a short time for rest in certain pools ; 
one of these resting places was directly in front of our 
tents. Two, three, or more, could be taken from it in 
the morning ; sometimes, not always, iu the evening ; 
but assuredly the ensuing morning ; and so on, until 
the beginning of September. 

When these fish return to "the ocean, that great re- 
ceptacle of fishes," as Goldsmith styles it, is a problem 
not yet solved. Some think they remain until winter, 
or spring. I incline to the opinion that they go back to 
the sea in the fall soon after their procreative duty is 
performed. It is well known that the salmo fontinalis 
gives no care or thought to its offering ; and evinces 
no love or affection for it after it passes the embryotic 
or ova-otic stage ; and that during that stage their j)a- 
rental fondness is akin to that of the cannibal for the 
conventional "fat missionary." The voraciousness that 
prompts the parent trout to eat all the eggs they can 
find as soon as deposited and fertilized, would also 
prompt them to return to the estuaries so well stocked 
with food suited to their taste and wants. 

What becomes of the young fry during early JisMiood 
is another problem. From the fact that no small trout 
are caught or seen in the rivers, at the source and in 
the tributaries of which millions are hatched, it is fair 
to assume that the young remain where they were incu- 
bated until they attain age, size, and strength that ena- 



SEA-TROUT. 63 

ble them to evade, if not defend themselves against, 
the attack of their many enemies. When this time 
arrives, they doubtless accompany their parents, or the 
parents of other troutlings (it is, indeed, a wise fish 
"that knows its own father" — or mother), on their 
migration to the sea. During our stay upon the stream 
I caught but two trout as small as one-fourth of a 
pound, but one of six ounces, and few as small as half a 
pound. The average size of our whole catch was one 
pound four ounces. 

Since writing the foregoing, I have received from Dr. 
J. A. Henshall, an answer to a letter that I addressed 
to him, before I began this article, in which I asked him 
to give me the nomenclature of the sea trout of the lower 
St. Lawrence, and also to inform me whether he thought 
these fish anadromous brook trout. 

I here record my thanks to the Doctor for his cour- 
teous compliance with my request, and give a copy of 
so much of his letter as relates to the fish under consid- 
eration, which, to my mind, settles the question of the 
status of the sea-trout of Canada. 

"Cynthiana, Ky., Jan. 29, 1883. 

"Dear Sir, — The so-called ' sea-trout ' or 'salmon-trout' of 
the lower St. Lawrence, is tlje brook trout (S. fontinalis), but 
having access to the sea, becomes anadromous, and like all anad- 
romous and marine fishes, becomes of a silvery appearance, losing, 
somewhat, its characteristic colors. The brook trout has a wide 
range (from northern Georgia to the Arctic regions), and of course 
presents some geographical variations in appearance, habits, etc., 



64 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

but does not vary in its specific relations. Mr. " (naming an 

American author to whom I referred), ' ' was wrong in calling 
this fish Salmo trutta S. trutta is a European species ; and if he 
applied the name to the Canadian brook trout it is a misnomer. 
I cannot say, not having read " (a work by said author men- 
tioned by me). ' ' Trusting this may meet your wants, I am, 

" Yours very sincerely, 
"J. A. Henshall. 

" P.S. — On next page please find nomenclature of the sea-trout 
of the lower St. Lawrence. 

"Canadian Sea-Trout. 
" Salvelinus fontinalis, (Mitchell), Gill & Jordan. 

"Synonomy. — Salmo canadensis, Ham. Smith, in Griffith's 
Cuvier, x, 474, 1834. Salmo immaculatus, H. R. Storer, in Bost. 
Jour. Nat. Hist, vi, 364, 1850. 

" Vernacular Names. — Canadian brook trout, sea-trout, sal- 
mon trout, unspotted salmon, white sea-trout, etc. 

"Specific Description. —Body oblong or ovate, moderately 
compressed; depth of body one-fourth to one-fifth of length; 
back broad and rounded. 

" Head large, not very long, sloping symmetrically above and 
below; head contained four or five times in length of body. 
Nostrils double; vomer boat-shaped; jaws with minute teeth; no 
teeth on hyoid bone ; mouth large, the maxillary reaching to the 
eye; eye large. 

"Scales very small, in two hundred and twenty-five transverse 
rows ; caudal fin slightly lunate in adult, forked in young ; adi- 
pose fin small. 

"Fin rays: D. 10; A. 9; P. 13; V. 8; C. 19. 

" Color: back mottled with dark markings; sides lighter ; belly 
silvery white ; red and yellow spots on body, mostly on sides. 

" Coloration often plain and silvery in sea-run individuals." 

The so-called "sea-trout of Long Island, as stated 



SEA-TROUT. 65 

by Mr. Charles Hallock, in his "Fishing Tourist," and 
of certain streams in Connecticut, as mentioned by Mr. 
W. C. Prime in "I go a-Fishing," are genuine brook 
trout. Although they have access to the salt water, 
and go there for food — and hence are fat and delicious 
in flavor — they are not anadromous brook trout. They 
do not "pass from the sea into fresh waters, at stated 
seasons " (Webster's Die). They are caught at all 
times from February or March until the following 
autumn in fresh water, and, as Hallock expresses it, 
" they run in and out with the tide." 

When this article was commenced it was my inten- 
tion to write not only of the sea-trout, but to give an 
account of our excursion in 1874 ; and in doing so to 
speak of the events of each day succeeding those of 
which I have written. It has already exceeded in 
length the measure that was fixed upon, hence I can 
give the reader only a casual glance at us as we proceed 
to our destination ; and a look now and then into our 
camp. 

I left our party — breakfast over — at the Sault au 
Cochon, at about eight A. m. of August 4th. Soon 
thereafter we set sail and made such progress that a few 
hours brought us to the mouth of our river. It was 
low tide when we reached it — low tide means something 
here, as the tide has a rise and fall of fifteen feet — and 
hence the anchor was dropped near the river's mouth, 
canoes launched, our personal baggage transferred to 
our respective canoes — Macdonough's was named Com- 
5 



66 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

modore, in honor of his father, who made an imperish- 
able name on Lake Champlain in the war of 1812, and 
mine La Dame, in honor of some one who lived in my 
imagination ; I never met her elsewhere. In the third 
canoe were placed the tents, camp utensils, and stores 
for twenty-four hours. When all was in readiness I 
lighted my pipe, seated myself on the bottom of my 
canoe, leaned back against one of the lords or cross 
bars ; then David, sitting upon the V formed by the 
sides of the canoe at the stern, with paddle in hand, 
sent the birch bark flying up our river. Like most 
Canadian trout streams it consists of a series of still, 
deep pools, and swift, rocky rapids, alternating. Often 
the rapids have a fall of one foot in ten, and are from 
one to five, and sometimes ten or more rods in length. 
It is marvellous how these canoeists will force a loaded 
canoe up them. In doing so they stand near the back 
end and use a long, iron-pointed "setting pole." Be- 
fore sunset we reached our camping place, five or six 
miles from the St. Lawrence. The guides built a fire 
to dispel the mosquitoes, which were fearfully numer- 
ous and bloodthirsty, and then set about pitching our 
tents. M. and I lighted cigars, put our rods together, 
and in ten minutes' time had taken from the pool in 
front of us, each two trout, weighing from one pound 
two, to one pound eight ounces each. Having caught 
enough for dinner we busied ourselves in arranging our 
tents, preparing our beds, etc. My journal for the day 
ends with the following brief entry : Nine P. M. — We 



SEA- TROUT. 67 

are now settled in camp, have eaten a good dinner, 
smoked our cigars, and are going to bed. 

Aug. 5th. — Having had a good night's sleep I rose 
at five A. m., made a hasty toilet, took my rod and 
threw into the pool, within forty feet of my tent, and 
took during a few minutes three trout weighing three- 
quarters, one and a-quarter, and one and a-quarter 
pounds respectively. M. soon followed and caught two 
of one and a-quarter pounds each. Breakfast over we 
sent our guides with the canoes down to the chaloupe 
for the rest of our tents, stores, etc., and consequently 
we can only fish the home pool to-day. With a hat- 
chet I cut out a path through the laurel thicket to the 
head of the pool, six or eight rods distant ; returned to 
camp, put on my India rubber wading pants and rub- 
ber shoes (having a leather sole filled with Hungarian 
nails), took my rod, walked to the head of the pool, 
and cast my flies on the swift waters. In an instant a 
pair of capacious jaws emerged from the water. I 
struck, and as the head disappeared, saw the tail and 
half the body of an enormous trout. . . .In twenty 
minutes the fish was in my landing net. I walked 
proudly and in a most contented frame of mind back 
to camp. " That," said Mr. Macdonough, "looks like 
old times." The scales were .hooked in his jaw, the 
index showed three pounds, eight ounces. . . . Our 
camp is on a sandy point of land around which curves 
the pool, and from which, for the space of about one- 
eighth of an acre, all trees were cut and the land cleared 



.68 FISHING WITH THE FL Y. 

off, under the direction, tradition states, of Sir Gore 
Ousel ey, who first encamped here about twenty years 
ago, with eighteen servants, retainers, and guides, of 
whom my guide was one, and the cook. The stumps 
have rotted awfiy, and the clearing is covered with tim- 
othy and red-top grasses. We have cut much of this 
with our knives, and intend to finish haying to-day. 
The grass when cured is to be used in making our beds 
more luxurious. The pool in front is nearly two hun- 
dred feet across at one point, and in places ten or fif- 
teen feet deep. In the centre and near the foot is a 
rock island about seventy-five feet long. In the foot 
of the pool between this rock and our camp large trout 
have been seen at all hours of the day. 

Opposite our camp is quite a hill covered with spruce, 
larch, and white birch. We have canvas beds, sup- 
ported by crotched sticks about eighteen inches high, 
upon which poles are laid and the canvas stretched. 
5 p. m. — I have filled two canvas sacks with hay for a 
bed, and a pillow-case with the same, for a bolster. 
These, with my small feather pillow, sheets, blankets, 
and night-shirts, will render sleeping in the "bush" 
Christian-like and endurable. 7 p. m. — I have just cast 
into the pool and caught a pound and a-half trout, 
making for the day six .trout, weighing nine pounds 
four ounces, and have not fished in the aggregate one 
hour. The guides, Captain and Fabian, have arrived 
with the three canoes and all stores. 

Aug. 6th, 7.30 A. m. — We have just finished break- 



SEA-TROUT. 69 

fast. It consisted of coffee, trout fish-balls, broiled 
ham, rice and wheat crepes (pancakes) with butter and 
maple sugar. My guide is an excellent cook and our 
stores abundant and of good quality. We purchased 
them in Quebec at a cost of $73.59 in gold. A tub of 
butter, barrel of bread, and sack of coarse salt, to pre- 
serve the trout, were purchased at Tadousac, and cost 
$11.34 in gold. 

5 p. m.— I have just come in from my first day's 
fishing. Began at 10 A. M., quit at 4 p.m. I fished 
below and Macdonough above the camp. 

M. killed 15 fish, weight 26 lbs., 4oz. 

Y. " 25 " " 31 lbs., 4 oz. = 57 lbs., 8 oz. 

Aug. 11th. — . . . Dinner is a great institution 
with us. Next to catching a trout of three pounds or 
over it is the event of the day. Ours of this evening 
was as follows : 

Soup: bean with extract of beef. 

Fish : boiled trout. 

Vegetables : potatoes and boiled onions. 

Pastry : rice cakes and maple sugar. 

Dessert: crackers, cheese, and orange marmalade. 

Wines : claret and sherry. 

Tea : English breakfast. 

Our canoes are beauties. They are eighteen feet long, 
three feet three inches wide in the centre, and fifteen 
inches in depth. With two men in they draw but 
three or four inches of water. 



70 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

Aug. 9th. — We left our camp with one tent, two 
canoes, and provisions for four days ; walked through 
the woods three miles to a lake, through which our 
river runs, which is eight miles above us by the stream. 

. . . It is a lovely sheet of water about three and 
a-half miles long and one and a-half wide, surrounded, 
except at the inlet and outlet, by rocky cliffs, in many 
places five to eight hundred feet high. . . . 

Aug. 10th. — To our usual breakfast was added this 
morning a broiled partridge (ruffed grouse) which 
Fabian killed with a stick or stone yesterday, in mak- 
ing the portage. While at breakfast a gray or silver 
fox ran past us within twenty feet of where we sat. 
The woods are filled with squirrels ; their chattering is 
heard constantly. Large and very tame fish-hawks 
abound — reminding one of the beach from Sandy Hook 
to Long Branch. . . . We have tickled the lake 
with a spinner, trolled with a long hand line, for pick- 
erel. We fished but an hour with two lines. We caught 
fourteen, weighing thirty-four j)ounds. 

Aug. 11th. — We fished down from the Middle Camp 
(as our present one is called). M. had the morning's 
fishing in the " spring hole," and took six fish averag- 
ing two pounds each. In the Magdalen pool I took 
three one pound trout immediately upon throwing in. 
Suddenly not ten feet from where I stood (I was in the 
water up nearly to my waist), and directly in front of 
me, a monster fish from three to four feet long, and of 
thirty or thirty-five pounds weight, shot up from the 



SEA-TROUT. 71 

water, stood seemingly upon its tail for an instant, and 
with a heavy splash fell oyer into the pool. " My 
God! what is that?" I asked my guide. "It's a 
saumon, sir," he calmly replied. I was all excitement 
and began whipping vigorously where it rose. Failing to 
get it up, I put on a salmon fly. By this time salmon 
were leaping above me, below me, and at my very feet. 
I whipped diligently, letting my fly fall like thistle- 
down upon the water, and then with a splash to attract 
attention, and now letting it sink and float with the 
current. It was all in vain ; three hours of my most 
skilful fishing failed to entice one of the wily monsters. 
Neither could I get up a trout; they had all been 
driven away by the salmon. I caused my guide to 
paddle me over the still pool just above, and saw in the 
pellucid water, three or four feet beneath the surface, 
ten or fifteen large salmon. They lay perfectly still 
for a time, and then darted through and around the 
pool in every direction, as if in play. Suddenly they 
would congregate in the centre of the pool and lay 
with their heads up stream, the largest slightly in ad- 
vance of the rest, as motionless as if the water had be- 
come ice, encasing the fish. 

Aug. 12th. — At Main Camp. . . . The canoeing 
clown from the Middle Camp — five miles — was delight- 
ful, and at times very exciting ; that is, in running the 
rapids, which are numerous. In making a portage 
around the " Little Falls " we started up a cock par- 
tridge. It alighted upon the limb of a dead tree no 



72 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

higher than my head. We approached within six feet 
of it, and stood for a minute or two gazing at the grace- 
ful bird. It returned our gaze with head turned aside, 
and a look of curious inquiry which said, as plainly as 
if it had spoken, "What kind of animals are you?" 
I could easily have hit it with my landing-net handle 
but would not make it " a victim of misplaced confi- 
dence." This incident reminded me of the lines of 
Alexander Selkirk, in the English Reader, which was 
in use in my early school- boy days : 

" They are so unacquainted with man, 
Their tameness is shocking to me." 

I may add that squirrels were constantly running about 
our camp, exhibiting no more fear than those in the 
parks of Philadelphia. 

Aug. Itth. — " David build a fire between our tents, 
it is cold," I called out about five o'clock this morn- 
ing. " Yes, sir," he replied ; "a black frost this 
morning, had to thaw out my boots before I could get 
them on." Our little encampment consists of two 
wall tents, ten feet square, for the use of Mr. Macdon- 
ough and myself. They are about fifteen feet apart, 
opening towards each other, upon a line twenty feet 
from the pool, upon ground five or six feet above it. 
Back of our tents is our dining-table, made of planks 
split from the spruce, and sheltered with a tent fly. In 
rear of this is the kitchen fire ; and still farther back, 
two "A tents," one for the use of our men, and the 
other for the protection of our stores. 



SEA-TROUT. 73 

I do not often look into our kitchen : Seeing Fabian 
wipe my silver-plated fork upon his pantaloons, be- 
tween courses, cured rne of this. " Where ignorance 
is bliss 'tis folly to be wise." I did, however, look 
into the kitchen to-day to see how our excellent bread 
was baked. It was properly made with " raising pow- 
der," kneaded and formed into loaves. A trench was 
dug in the ashes and sand, forming the bed of our 
camp fire, wide and long enough to admit of three 
loaves. They were put into the trench, without any 
covering except the hot sand and ashes, with which 
they were surrounded on all sides, top and bottom. 
Live coals were raked over the mound, and it was left 
for time and heat to do the rest. An hour or so after 
I saw the bread taken from the ashes. It was brushed 
slightly with a wisp broom, which removed the little of 
ashes and sand adhering ; and the bread was as clean 
as if it had just left the baker's oven, and was of a uni- 
form rich brown color. Lamb and green peas (French 
canned) formed one course at dinner to-day. The 
flavor of fresh mutton is much improved by non-inter- 
course with the butcher for two weeks. 

Sunday, Aug. 16. — Another bright and beautiful day. 
It would be pleasant to hear " the sound of the church- 
going bell, which these rocks and these valleys ne'er 
heard, " It is now near two weeks since we entered 
upon our camp life, and we have seen no signs of civil- 
ization, save in our camp ; nothing but forest, rock, 
water and sky, all as they came from their Great 



74 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

Creator's hand. No sounds have been heard to carry 
us back in thought to the world of life and labor, save 
the occasional booming of the fog cannon at a govern- 
ment station on the south side of the St. Lawrence. 
How strangely did the warning voice of this gun, tel- 
ling us of danger to the mariner, break upon the 
silence of the hour as we sat watching the fairy forms 
and fantastic shapes in our first evening's camp-fire ! 

Pleasant as it is to the writer to live over again the 
days of which he has written — to dwell upon the 
scenes in which he was an actor, so vividly presented 
to his mind's eye as he writes of them — pity for the 
too-long suffering reader has prompted him to close 
the lids of his journal and restore it to its place in the 
book-case. 

It only remains to write somewhat of our success in 
fishing. The season was a very dry one, our river very 
low, and no rain sufficient to affect it fell during our 
stay, consequently the trout did not come up in as large 
numbers as usual, and the clearness of the water ren- 
dered successful fly-fishing more difficult. We caught 
on this occasion but two hundred and forty-three trout, 
of the aggregate weight of three hundred and four 
pounds. All these fish were taken with a fly, save one: 
thereby hangs a tale heretofore untold. At Tadousac, 
on our way out, I saw a gentleman, to whom I had 
been introduced, making something in the construction 
of which he used three snelled hooks and about three 
inches in length of thin white rubber tubing. I asked 



SEA-TROUT. 75 

'■'What is it f" "A devil,"' he replied. He gave me 
materials, and while sailing down the river I made 
one. One day at the Home Pool I saw ten or a dozen 
large trout. They paid no heed to my flies. " Try the 
devil/' my guide whispered. In a moment of weakness 
I yielded to the tempter and put it on. The first cast 
caused commotion in the watery camp. At the second 
I struck and soon drew out on the beach a pound and 
a half trout. I looked upon the beautiful fish with 
compassion, cursed myself for resorting to such unfair 
means, removed the cruel hooks as tenderly as I could 
from the mangled and bleeding mouth, and taking off 
the devilish invention threw it as far as possible into 
the woods. 

• • . . " The beasts of game 
The privilege of chase may claim." 

I have not since used, and shall not in the future 
use, this rightly named instrument, and hope no angler 
will. I have narrated this only unpleasant feature of 
my bout to illustrate the devilish ingenuity of "pot 
fishermen " and the curiosity of sea-trout. I wonder 
what was the gender of the fish ! 

With a view of showing the capabilities of our river 
in the production of fish, I have aggregated the scores 
from 1872 to 1882 inclusive. In one of these years 
three rods were in use, in three others two, and in the 
other years but one. The average time of fishing in 
each year was about three weeks. 

Number of trout taken, 5,525; aggregate weight, 



76 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

6, 625 J pounds ; average about one pound three ounces. 
In the year 1881 the average size of two hundred and 
thirteen trout taken with a single rod in eight days' 
fishing was one pound fourteen ounces. Not one of 
these fish was wasted. A few were eaten upon the 
stream, but most of them were given to the guides, 
who salted and packed them in barrels for future use. 
A sack of coarse salt and empty fish barrels were always 
included in the anglers' stores. 

Three days after the last date mentioned we were 
again on board our clialoupe "homeward bound." The 
loss in weight in our stores was made good by the barrel 
of salted anadromous salvelinus-fontinalis which were 
to supplement and eke out the pork barrel of our 
honest and worthy guides during the long ice-bound 
winter before them. 

Tadousac was reached about sunrise on a bright 
morning. At nine o'clock we were in citizen's dress and 
seated at the hotel breakfast table. A glance around 
the room showed that summer birds and Cook's tourists 
had mainly migrated to more southern latitudes. Our 
trunks were re-packed, our guides paid $1.50 each per 
day, and the captain $2.00, gold, and bade adieu. We 
took the Saguenay steamboat for Quebec, the Grand 
Trunk Railroad from Point Levi to Montreal, where 
we passed the night. The next morning we travelled 
by rail to Rouse's Point and by boat down that charm- 
ing Lake, Champlain. At the various landings many 
persons, including several friends, came on board. 



SEA-TROUT. 77 

Nearly all carried snugly-cased fishing rods, whose sum- 
mer work was ended. The Chateaugay, the Saranacs, 
Paul Smith's, Baker's, Martin's, and various other 
familiar names met our ears. We envied none of them. 
Our cup of joy, happiness and contentment was full to 
the brim. There was no room for " envy, hatred and 
malice," but a feeling of gratitude and thankfulness to 
the Author of every "good and perfect gift," welled 
up from our hearts. 



LAKE FLIES 







^ 




Made by C.F.ORVIS. Manchester.Vt 



CO PYB I G H TE D 



" Every angler lias his own peculiar notion in regard to the 
best fly ; and the difficulty of presenting a perfect catalogue will 
be very apparent, when it is considered that the name of the fly 
of one writer bears a different name and description ft om that of 
another, and it is more than probable that the name and descrip- 
tion of some of the flies in my list may not be in accordance with 
the views and opinions of many old and experienced anglers." — 
t ijpranlc Forester. ' ' 

" After staying in a village parlor till the family had all retired, 
I have returned to the woods, and partly with a view to the next 
day's dinner, spent the hours of midnight fishing from a boat by 
moonlight, serenaded by owls and foxes, and hearing, from time 
to time, the croaking note of some unknown bird close at hand." 
— Henry D. Thoreau. 

7. Ferguson. 8. Abbey. 

9. Royal Coachman. 10. Seth Green. 

11. Professor. 12. Montreal. 

" He sat down on a lump of granite, and took out his fly-book. 
It is a sport, he added, as he was selecting the flies, that there is 
less to be said against than shooting, I imagine. I don't like the 
idea of shooting birds, especially after I have missed one or two. 
Birds are such harmless creatures. But the fish is different — the 
fish is making a murderous snap at an innocent fly, when a little 
bit of steel catches him in the very act. It serves him right, from 
the moral point of view." — William Black. 

" There is much diversity of opinion about the manner of fish- 
ing, whether up or down the stream ; the great majority of ang- 
lers, both In Europe and this country, favor the latter method, 
and very few the former. " — John J. Brown. 



ie ( 



Beautiful ! ' Well you may say so, for what is more beauti- 
ful than a well-developed pound trout ? "—Charles W. Stevens. 



" Reader, did you ever throw the fly to tempt the silvery deni- 
zen of the lake, or river, to his destruction ? Have you watched 
him, as it skimmed like a living insect along the surface, dart 
from his hiding-place, and rush upon the tempting but deceitful 
morsel ; and have you noticed his astonishment when he found 
the hook was in his jaw ? Have you watched him as he bent your 
slender rod ' like a reed shaken by the wind,' in his efforts to free 
himself, and then have you reeled him to your hand and de- 
posited him in your basket, as the spoil of" your good right arm ? 
If you have not, leave the dull, monotonous, every-day things 
around you, and flee to the Chazy Lake." — S. H. Hammond. 

" I now come to not only the most sportsman-like, but the most 
delightful method of trout-fishing. One not only endeared by a 
thousand delightful memories, but by the devotion of many of our 
wisest and best men for ages past ; and, next to my thanks for 
existence, health, and daily bread, I thank God for the good gift 
of fly-fishing. If the fishes are to be killed for our use, there is 
no way in which they are put to so little pain as in fly-fishing. 
The fish rises, takes your fly as though it were his ordinary 
food ; the hook fixes in the hard gristly jaw, where there is little 
or no sensation. After a few struggles he is hauled on shore, and 
a tap on the head terminates his life ; and so slight is the pain or 
alarm that he feels from the hook, that I have over and over 
caught a trout, with the fly still in his mouth which he has broken 
off in his struggles an hour or even half an hour previously. I 
have seen fish that have thus broken off swim away with my fly 
in their mouths and begin to rise at the natural fly again almost 
directly."— Francis Francis. 



RANGELEY BROOK TROUT. 

BY 

JAMES A. WILLIAMSON, 

Sec. OquosHoc Angling Association. 



About twelve summers ago, when spending a delight- 
ful vacation at Manchester, Vermont, under the shadow 
of Mt. Equinox, my attention was called to a little book 
which gave a description of the exceptionally large 
brook trout inhabiting the waters of the Rangeley 
Lakes. 

Never having heard, heretofore, of a fish of that spe- 
cies that weighed more than three pounds, and never 
having caught any over a pound and a half (although 
I had dropped a line in many waters and exerted my 
utmost muscle in casting a line for fingerlings), I could 
not bring my mind to believe that such fish as were 
described really existed, and at once pronounced it an- 
other fish story. Although much interested in the 
narrative I finally threw down the book in disgust, and 
as I did so, observed for the first time that the author 
was Robert G-. Allerton, a very old friend, whom I had 
always esteemed a man of veracity. I at once took a 
new interest in the subject and determined to investi- 
gate the matter personally. I came to New York, had 
6 



82 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

an interview with Mr. Allerton, who was the Treasurer 
of the Oquossoc Angling Association, and by his advice 
joined the club, and in due time started for the prom- 
ised land of mountains, lakes, and large trout, and after 
the usual vicissitudes of travel reached my destination 
at Camp Kennebago about the middle of September. 
" The forests were just developing their autumnal 
hues, the air was fresh and bracing, and all nature 
seemed to conspire to make one realize that there was 
health in every breath inhaled, and beauty in every 
phase of land and water. Having secured a first-rate 
guide and boat, and partaken of a trout breakfast, 
which was relished immensely, such as can only be 
appreciated by one who has left the haunts of civil- 
ization and gone into the wilderness for recupera- 
tion, I considered my first duty was to pay my respects 
to Mr. Allerton, who was in camp at Bugle Cove. 
From this location Lake Mooselemeguntic lies spread 
out before you, while Mt. Washington in the distance 
rears its snowy peak, overtopping Jefferson, Monroe, 
and the other giants of the White Hills of New Hamp- 
shire. 

The crystal waters of the lake tempt us to cast a ily, 
and a suitable place having been secured, we proceed to 
business. After making several casts in a manner 
more or less scientific but without success, my former 
unbelief came creejnng over me, and, as my arm became 
tired and almost refused to do its duty, a sense of 
despondency overcame me, which I am sure sensibly 



RANGELEY BROOK TRO UT. 83 

affected the beauty if not the efficacy of my casts. But 
suddenly I am awakened to the realization of the fact 
that a big fish has seized the fly and is making the reel 
hum in its frantic endeavors to secure its liberty. 
Fathom after fathom of the dainty line disappears be- 
neath the water, and at last prudence dictates a gentle 
snub, which finally terminates in a decided check to the 
mad career of the quarry. Having succeeded in turn- 
ing his head in a different direction, another rush is 
made across stream, making the line whiz as it cuts 
through the water ; then suddenly he takes a downward 
course and ceases from all apparent effort to free him- 
self. He now sulks for a long time, and impatience 
begins to take the place of the excitement with which 
the fight began. The guide, who, during the fray had 
hoisted his anchor, got ready his landing-net, and was 
now holding his boat in position with the oars, sug- 
gested that I had better send him a telegraphic message, 
which was accordingly done by striking the rod with a 
key. The first few strokes seemed to make little or no 
impression, but presently he convinced us that he was 
still there, although we had some forebodings that he 
had escaped by winding the line around a log or some 
other object at the bottom of the stream. He was up 
and alive in every sense, and performed the same tactics 
for liberty with apparently more vigor than at first. 
These were kept up for about half an hour, when he again 
took a turn of sulking, but this time of shorter dura- 
tion, and when he again began his rushes it was with 



.84 . FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

an evident loss of strength, but no diminution of de- 
termination and pluck. 

A friend who was watching and timing me from his 
boat came oyer to inquire how the battle was progress- 
ing, and pertinently asked, "Whether the fish was 
going to take me or I the fish." At last the strength 
of the tackle, the pliability of the rod, and the determi- 
nation of the rodster overcame the pluck and strength 
of the fish, and he was brought to the boat turned upon 
his side and was beautifully landed by the guide. The 
scales were at once applied, with a result of eight 
pounds full weight. 

My inquiring and interested friend informed me that 
I had been two hours and twenty minutes in the fight, 
and as I sat down in the boat I, for the first time, real- 
ized that I was tired. 

Now, my dear reader, do not think that this kind of 
sport is of common occurrence, for from that time to 
this, I have taken but two fish of equal weight ; the 
average, however, has been much larger than trout 
from any other locality in which I have fished. Any 
fish under half a pound is considered unfit to land, 
and is again committed to the water to grow larger. 
The number of trout does not seem to be falling off ; 
but this can be accounted for by the annual plant of 
fry from the Hatching House of the Oquossoc Angling 
Association, who have for years past turned about one 
million fish into these waters, and now contemplate in- 
creasing the amount to five million ; still I think there 



RANOELEY BROOK TROUT. 85 

is a sensible diminution of the size of the catch, which 
now run from one-half to four pounds, and anything 
over that weight is the exception. This would seem to 
confirm the supposition of Professor Agassiz, made 
many years ago, that these large fish possibly may have 
reached an age of from 100 to 200 years, as they were 
evidently very old. 

Any one who has been thrilled with the vigorous 
strike of one of the ordinary sized fish would be almost 
beside himself when one from three to five pounds 
rose to his fly, and if his tackle was good, the sport de- 
rived therefrom, would serve him a lifetime ; and when 
the shades of night had fallen upon the camp, and he 
with his fellow-fishermen collected around the great 
fire, point and vigor would be given to his recital of 
how he caught and played the monster he that day had 
brought to his creel. 



LAKE FLIES. 




Made by C.F.ORYIS. Manchester. Vt 



COPYRIGHTED 



" Let it be seen that a love of the ' gentle art ' openeth first 
the heart, then the fly-book, and soon the stores of expe^.-ice and 
knowledge garnered up through long years, wheresoev ,- we meet 
a 'Brother of the Angle'; and that to us 'angling *s an em- 
ployment of our idle time, which is not then i r spent ' ; that 
therein we find ' a rest to the mind, a eheerer o. the spirits, a di- 
verter of sadness, a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a moderator of 
the passions, a procurer of contentedness, and that it begets habits 
of peace and patience in those that possess and practice it.' " — 
Thaddeus Non'is. 

" Fly-fishing holds the same relation to bait-fishing that poetry 
does to prose. Not only the fly, but every implement of the fly- 
fisher's outfit is a materialized poem." — James A.Henshall, M.D. 

i3. Bee. 14. Tomah Jo. 

15. "No Name." 16. Blue Bottle. 

17. Grasshopper. 18. Canada. 

"Between the tyro and the proficient grayling fisher there ex- 
ists a wider gulf than is the case with the experienced and inex- 
perienced in any other branch in the whole art of fishing. Prac- 
tical skill and general artistic bearing are more fully exemplified 
in fishing for grayling, than for trout and salmon, whilst upon 
the same ground the unskilled efforts of the bungler stand at a 
yet more glaring contrast. " — David Foster. 

" Hooking a large grayling, I had good evidences of his plucky 
qualities ; the pliant rod bent as he struggled against the line, 
curling his body around columns of water that failed to sustain 
his grasp, and setting his great dorsal fin like an oar backing 
water, while we cautiously worked him in, his tender mouth re- 
quiring rather more careful handling than wo 1 Id be necessary for 
a trout ; making a spurt up stream, he requ>~3 a yielding line, 
but after a time he submits to be brought in, rallying for a dart 
under the boat, or beneath a log, as an attempt is made to place 
the landing net under him. " — Professor Milner. 



" Do not despair. There was — alas ! that I must say there was 
—an illustrious philosopher, who was nearly of the age of fifty 
before he made angling a pursuit, yet he became a distinguished 
fly -fisher." — Sir Humphry Davy. 

' ' Fly-fishing for grayling and trout are not altogether identi- 
cal. Both are frequently found in the same water, and are to be 
taken with the same cast of flies. Finer tackle, as a rule, is re- 
quired in the case of the former, as also smaller and brighter flies." 
— David Foster. 

" The grayling generally springs entirely out of the water when 
first struck by the hook, and tugs strongly at the line, requiring 
as much dexterity to land it safely as it would to secure a trout 
of six times the size." — Dr. Richardson. 

" Grayling will often take the fly under water, rising so quietly 
that you will scarcely see any rise or break of the water at all. It 
is desirable, therefore, to watch the line narrowly, and to strike 
whenever you think it stops or checks, and you will now and then 
be surprised, although there is no break in the water, to find a 
good grayling on the hook. For, as is often the case with trout, 
the big ones are very quiet risers." — Francis Francis. 

" To be a perfect fisherman you require more excellencies than 
are usually to be found in such a small space as is allotted to a 
man's carcass." — Parker Gil more. 

"The trout has, so to speak, a Herculean cast of beauty; the 
grayling rather that of an Apollo — light, delicate, and gracefully 
symmetrical. " — H. Cholmondely-Pennell. 



THE GRAYLING. 

BY 
FEED MATHER. 



The very name of my beloved fish calls tip a host of 
recollections that form themselves into a picture that, 
above all others, is the most cheerful one adorning 
memory's wall. We old fellows live largely in the past, 
and can afford to let younger men revel in the future ; 
and in my own case, I can say that, having filled 
Shakespeare's apothegm of i( one man in his time 
plays many parts," there are often retrospects of life as 
a boyish angler, an older hunter, trapper, and general 
vagabond on the frontiers ; a soldier ; and a later return 
to a first love. Of these glances over the shoulder of 
time, a few trips to Northern Michigan and its grayling 
streams mark the journey of life with a white stone. 

When Prof. Cope announced, in 1865, that he had 
received specimens from Michigan, the English anglers 
in America were incredulous, and there was some spicy 
correspondence, in the sportsmen's papers of those days, 
concerning the identity of the fishes. As usual, the 
scientist discomfited the angler, and proved his position. 
The fish had long been known to the raftsmen and na- 
tives of Michigan by local names, but had never been 



90 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

identified as the historic grayling. Some eight years 
after the discovery of Prof. Cope that we had the gray- 
ling in American waters, Mr. D. H. Fitzhugh, Jr., sent 
some of them to Mr. Charles Hallock, then editor of 
Forest mid Stream, and they were shown in New York 
to the doubters, who even then were not convinced. 

Mr. Fitzhugh took great interest in the new fish, 
which, as a lumberman and an angler, he had long known 
as a "Michigan trout," but had never recognized as 
the gentle grayling, and he has since done more than 
any other man to popularize it and introduce it to 
anglers. 

He invited Mr. Hallock, Prof. Milner, and myself to 
come up and fish for it, and we each extolled its attrac- 
tions in the press. As a consequence, the fish has been 
nearly exterminated by vandals who fish for count, and 
the waters where we fished at first are nearly barren. 

Of all game fishes the grayling is my favorite. It is 
gamy but not savage ; one does not feel the savage in- 
stinct to kill that the black bass or the pike raises in 
him, but rather a feeling of love for a vigorous fighter 
for its life who is handicajyped with a tender mouth. 
To me the fish is always thought of as the "gentle 
grayling," and the "golden-eyed grayling," although 
the latter epithet is not always a correct one, owing to 
the changes in the iris. 

In fishing for grayling it is well to use a medium- 
sized fly of a subdued color ; a yellow body and a brown 
wing is the fly that should be used if only one is 



THE GRAYLING. 91 

recommended ; it is a most killing combination. Brown 
Hackles, Eed Ibis, Professor, Queen of the Water, and 
other trout flies are also killing ; but the first-men- 
tioned fly, whose name I do not know, owing to a de- 
fective memory and the vagaries of fly nomenclature, 
is the most killing, and a cast into the upper edge of a 
pool below a rapid is usually most successful.* 

The beauty of the grayling is of a kind that is better 
appreciated after some acquaintance. The bright col- 
ors of its " magnificent dorsal," as the phrase went a 
few years ago, are not its chief claim to admiration. 
Its shapely contour, striped ventrals, iridescent cau- 
dal, and its beatific countenance win the heart of the 
angler and make him love the grayling, and feel that 
it is a fish to respect for the higher qualities expressed 
in its physiognomy, and not one that it is merely a sat- 
isfaction to kill as he would a savage pike. True, we 
kill the grayling, but we do it in a different spirit from 
that in which we kill some other thing. It was not 
only my good fortune to know " Uncle Thad" Norris, 
but to have fished with him. The dear lovable old 
man, who long since paid his fare to the grim ferry- 
man, once said : "When I look into a grayling's eye I 
am sorry I killed it ; but that feeling never prevents 
me from making another cast just to see if another 
will rise. " 

In another century Norris will be more read and ap- 
preciated than he is to-day. Of all American angling 

* Oak-fly. 



92 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

writers of this century he will stand foremost, and 
yet he never wrote as fully as he intended of the 
fish that he told me had afforded him more pleas- 
ure than any other. He had not revised his "Am- 
erican Angler's Book" for some time before his 
death, and so his remarks on Back's grayling must 
stand as he wrote them before the era of the Michigan 
grayling. He there says of the Arctic grayling : 
" The grayling being a fish in the capture of which 
the American angler cannot participate, we give no 
account of the manner of angling for them, but re- 
fer the reader who may have interest or curiosity on 
that score to English authors." He intended to re- 
vise that sentence and give his own experience, but the 
Reaper judged him ripe for the harvest before he did 
it. In my opinion he was one of those who should 
never have been ripe for that harvest, and his loss to 
our angling literature was a severe one. 

That the grayling will take bait, truth requires the 
admission ; would that it were not so. I would prefer 
that its food was the soaring insect, or even the float- 
ing thistledown, with an occasional feather from an 
angel's wing dropped in the moonlit flood ; but science 
has laid bare its interior with the searching scalpel, and 
the Caesarian operation has brought forth the lowly 
caddis-worm and other larvae, and the bait-fisher has 
taken advantage of the knowledge and pandered to the 
baser appetite of the fish. 

That the grayling does not eat other fish is proved 



THE GJRA YLING. 93 

by its small mouth, as well as by its known habits. 
It is not a leaper, like the trout, but takes the fly 
from the surface with merely an exposure of a por- 
tion of its head. When struck, it makes a rigorous 
rush, and, if it does not fight as long as the trout does, 
it gives much resistance at the last moment by the side- 
long movement it makes when being reeled in, which 
is due to the size and curvature of its dorsal fin. It 
inhabits only the coldest of streams, and while the 
grayling of Europe is found in the trout streams, it is 
not to be found there in Michigan. 

We have several species of grayling in America. 
Two of these only are accessible to anglers, the Michi- 
gan grayling, Thy m alius tricolor, and one at the head 
waters of the Yellowstone, the T. Montanus. The 
other species are Arctic. 

The Michigan fish is reported to grow to nearly two 
pounds weight ; I never saw one that I thought would 
weigh much over a pound, and I have taken them in 
spawning season for the pui^ose of procuring their 
eggs. Whether this fish will bear acclimatization to 
other waters, I cannot say. I raised a few until a 
year old at my former trout farm in Western New 
York, and when I left them I opened the pond and let 
them into the stream below, but none have ever been 
taken there, as far as I know. It seems a pity to allow 
this elegant fish to become extinct, as it will in a few 
years in its limited habitat, and if opportunity offered 
I would again try to domesticate it. 



94 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

The trout-fisher needs no special directions nor 
tackle to fish for grayling ; he may cast in the usual 
manner, only remembering that the fish has a very 
tender mouth, and must be treated with this fact ever 
in mind. The Michigan grayling streams are not 
suited for wading, and, therefore, fishing from a boat 
is the rule. This may not suit some anglers, to whom 
I can only say, every one to his fancy, but no wading 
for me ; dry feet are more comfortable than wet ones, 
and boat-fishing or bank-fishing are more suitable to 
my taste, than to be immersed up to my hips in cold 
water for half a day. 

I have killed, I believe, every game fish in America 
east of the Eocky Mountains, except the salmon, for 
which I have a rod in readiness, that I hope to use 
soon, and I can say that while I do not think the 
grayling the superior of all of them for gameness, yet 
there is something of romance in the remembrance of 
the grayling, a kind of sentimental retrospect, that 
endears the fish to me above all others. Whether it 
was owing to the pine woods and the genial compan- 
ionship, I do not care to consider ; but each year there 
comes a longing to repeat the pleasant experiences of 
the Au Sable and its delicate grayling. 




Made by C.F.ORYIS. Manchester, Vt. 



COPYR I6HTEO. 



" The trout-fly does not resemble any known species of insect. 
It is a ' conventionalized ' creation, as we say of ornamentation. 
The theory is, that, fly-fishing being a high art, the fly must not 
be a tame imitation of nature, but an urtibtic suggestion of- it. It 
requires an artist to construct one ; and not every bungler can 
take a bit of red flannel, a peacock's feather, a flash of tinsel 
thread, a' cock's plume, a section of a hen's wing, and fabricate a 
tiny object that will not look like any fly, but still will suggest 
the universal conventional fly." — Charles Dudley Warner. 

" When you fish with a flie, if it be possible, let no part of your 
line touch the water, but your flie only." — Izaak Walton. 

i. Coachman. 2. Leadwing Coach- 3. Royal Coach- 
man, man. 

4. Coachman red 5. Gilt Coachman. 6. Cowdung. 

tip. 

7. Fern. 8. Blue Jay. 9. Abbey. 

10. Red Ant. 11. Black Ant. 12. Seth Green. 

13. Professor. 14. Blue Professor. 15. Dark Stone. 

"A combination of English Jay is one of the most effective 
flies in the world, as it can be put into as gay a fly as you please, 
and also into as plain a one as you like." — Vapt. Peel {" Dinks "). 

"Wheii I think of the great secret? cf Nature locked up from 
our knowledge (yet under our eyes at a .ery turn of your daily 
duty), and imagine what a mine of intellectual wealth remains to 
be opened out by quickness of sight, clearness of intellect, and 
the pickaxe of hard work, a great panorama opens before me. 
How ignorant — how terribly ignorant— are we of God's great laws 
as applied to the creatures that live in the element in which we 
are forbidden to exist!" — Frank Buckland. 

" The ancient belief in the stoppage of sport during a thunder- 
storm is not strictly true." — David Foster. 



"A fish will hook himself only in cases where the fly first 
touches the water at the end of a straight line, or when the line 
is being withdrawn smartly for a new cast. In all oijier cases 
the skill of the angler must be employed." — Charles HallocTc. 

' ' We had determined on a feast, and trout were to be its dain- 
tiest dainty. We waited until the confusing pepper of a shower 
had passed away and left the water calm. We tossed to the fish 
humbugs of wool, silk and feathers, gauds such as captivate the 
greedy or the guileless. The trout, on the lookout for novelty, 
dashed up and swallowed disappointing juiceless morsels, and 
with them swallowed hooks. Then, O Walton ! Davy ! 
Scrope! ye fishers hard by taverns! luxury was ours of which ye 
know nothing. Under the noble yellow birch we cooked our own 
fish. We used our scanty kitchen-battery with skill. We cooked 
with the high art of simplicity. Where Nature has done her best, 
only fools rush in to improve. On the salmonids, fresh and salt, 
she has lavished her creative refinements. Cookery should only 
ripen and develop." — Theodore Winthrop. 

"As a general thing, it is a waste of time to be forever changing 
your flies. If the trout are not rising, it is entirely useless to fling 
an assortment of flies at them." — T. S. Up de Graf, 31. D. 

" In taking the fly, I award the palm to the trout, as he usually 
throws himself out of the water to do so. The salmon does not, 
he scarcely more than shows himself; but after being hooked the 
sport commences, and it is all activity to the death, rarely any 
sulking." — Charles W. Stevens. 



A TROTTTING TRIP TO ST. IGNACE ISLAND. 

BY 

W. THOMSON 

Towards the end of August, 1877, I had become 
pretty well fagged out with office work and felt that I 
must have a week or two of out-door recreation or 
sport of some kind, so I naturally decided upon a trout- 
fishing expedition ; and I selected, as the scene, the 
island of St. Ignace, in Lake Superior, of which I had 
heard most excellent accounts in regard to fish prod- 
ucts. I had, it is true, caught a great many brook 
trout throughout the summer, in small streams close at 
hand ; but these were mostly fish of inferior size, few 
indeed reaching one pound in weight ; while I was as- 
sured by an ancient fisherman of repute, that at the 
Island, the real Salmo fontinalis often attained to four, 
five, and even seven pounds. 

This was the kind of ground I had been, for many 
years, anxious to find, and I made up my mind to try it 
at all events. 

The first thing to do was to secure two suitable com- 
panions, and a man or boy of all work. The former I 
quickly enlisted in the persons of a genial M.D. and an 
overworked limb of the law. The latter opportunely 
7 



98 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

turned up in the shape of "Jim," a colored youth of 
sixteen, as black as the ten of spades, but no less cele- 
brated for his culinary skill than for his impish tricks 
and imperturbable good humor and honesty. To ban- 
ish formality once for all, and put things upon an easy 
and familiar footing at the start, I christened the M.D. 
" Squills " and the lawyer " Bluffy," out of compliment 
to his usual style of treating witnesses in court. In 
deference to my advanced age and general good looks, 
the boys called me " Governor," I being then about 
fifty-three and neither of them thirty. Our supplies, 
consisting of a ten by twelve tent, three camp beds and 
bedding, two small boats, a stock of provisions for six 
men for two weeks, one rifle, two fowling pieces, and 
our fishing tackle, were soon got together, and in twen- 
ty-four hours from the first proposal, we were ready to 
take the cars for Collingwood. At that point we se- 
cured an ample supply of ice; and then embarked w 7 ith 
our traps on board a steamer bound for Duluth and in- 
termediate ports, and touching at St.Ignace on her way. 
This island is situated in Canadian waters, about 
thirty-five miles from the mouth of Ncpigon River, 
forty-seven miles east of the famous Silver Islet and 
some seventy from Thunder Bay. I say island, but 
there are in fact two called St. Ignace ; the largest be- 
ing about sixteen miles long by ten wide ; with gener- 
ally bluff shores and high headlands, one of these rising 
to a height of thirteen hundred and fifty feet above the 
lake level. The smaller island, at which steamers 



A TROUTING TRIP TO ST. ION ACE ISLAND. 99 

touch and upon which we camped, is separated from 
the larger by a channel of from fifty to a hundred yards 
wide, and is about two miles by a half a mile in size, 
having one bold headland five hundred feet high. 
Neither island is inhabited except by occasional Indians 
and other fishermen ; nor do either of them, so far as I 
observed, contain any agricultural land, the formation 
being rock. Both, hoAvever, as well as contiguous 
groups, are mostly covered with a thick growth of 
spruce, balsam, birch and mountain ash. This last is 
so plentiful that in the autumn its brilliant red leaves 
may be seen from quite a distance at sea, framed in a 
background of dark green spruce, and presenting a 
most charming view. The larger island contains in it- 
self numerous small lakes which abound in pike (E. 
lucius), and what we Canadians call yellow pickerel 
{Stizostedium vitreum), really pike-perch. No one 
bothers catching these, however, as the surrounding 
waters yield an enormous supply of choicer fish, among 
which are said to be ten varieties of the salmon family ; 
besides whitefish, some of which attain to seventeen 
pounds in weight ! I took some trouble to ascertain 
the local names by which the various species of trout 
are known, and the greatest attested weight of individ- 
uals of each. I am indebted to Mr. Wm. Boon, of 
Barrie, Ontario, a professional fisherman who spends 
four months of every year upon the island, for the fol- 
lowing list, which I give without vouching in any way 
for this queer addition to the salmon family: 



100 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

1. Salmon trout, weight up to 70 lbs. 

2. " Siskowitt," weight up to 12 " 

3. Half-breed Siskowitt, weight up to 5 " 

4. " Potgut," very inferior fish, weight up to 12 " 

5. Rock or black trout, weight up to 40 " 

6. Large gray or shovel-nose trout, weight up to. . . . 70 " 

7. "California trout," yellow spots and flesh, weight 

up to 10 " 

8. " Half-breed red trout," weight up to 15 " 

9. Common brook or speckled trout, weight up to . . 7 " 
10. " Red trout," weight up to 42 " 

All of these, of course, are local names, but the 
fish are all true trout ; crossed and re-crossed, I pre- 
sume, ad infinitum. The brook trout is the only 
species found here with a square tail, those of all the 
others being* more or less forked. The " red trout " is 
far superior to any of its confreres, and is called by the 
Indians — Pugwashooaneg, that is, Paysplatt — Dis- 
trict-fish, as it is taken only in this locality, and only 
in the fall of the year as a rule. The Indians come 
from Nepigon expressly to fish for it, and care for no 
other trout in conrparison. It is much more highly 
esteemed than the brook trout. This very day on 
which I write this article, I had a salted piece of one of 
these "red trout " for dinner and found the flesh of a 
bright pink, and the flavor exquisite. I shall refer to 
it again. 

On our passage from Collingwood we touched at the 
following ports and "landings," viz. : Meaford, Owen 
Sound, Killarney, Little Current, Bruce Mines, Hilton, 



A TROUTING TRIP TO ST. IGNACE ISLAND. 101 

or St. Joseph Island, Garden River, and the Sault. 
Thence, yia Michipicoton Island to St. Ignace. I may 
say here, before I forget it, that among the useful pro- 
ductions of this last are incredible quantities of huckle- 
berries and " sand cranberries." The former were just 
in season at the date of our visit, and after the first 
day " Jim" always gave us capital puddings and pies 
made from them. 

AYe found many pleasant people on board the steamer, 
with whom we picked acquaintance in that free and 
easy manner peculiar the world over to anglers. 

After a delightful trip of four days, we made the 
landing on our Island at about five o'clock on a beauti- 
ful evening, and, having got our whole outfit ashore, 
selected a charming spot in the midst of a spruce grove 
as a camping ground. The tent was put up, beds and 
bedding arranged, supplies for present use unpacked, 
a table improvised and things generally " set out " in 
a most orderly manner by the Doctor and "Bluffy," 
while I employed myself in the construction of a fish 
corral, the use of which will be seen further on. 
Meantime, " Jim " had, with a few loose stones, made 
for himself a very passable fire-place, and soon had tea 
and coffee prepared, several appetizing dishes cooked, 
and called us to supper at 6.30. After a hearty and 
enjoyable meal, we proceeded to put the finishing 
touches to our work ; sorted out and overhauled our 
fishing tackle ; caught a few minnows and placed them 
in a perforated bucket in the lake ; and before dark 



102 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

were all in ship-shape and thoroughly comfortable. 
" Jim" slung his hammock between and beneath two 
umbrageous trees, and by eight o'clock, with a full 
stomach and clear conscience, was roosting in it, happy 
as a lord ! From this coign of vantage, with the gath- 
ering darkness to hide his Mushes, he favored us with 
several choice negro melodies rendered in a style and 
with a pathos which any "professional" might have 
envied. As the night deepened we drank in with ap- 
propriate senses all the delights of our surroundings. 
The great fire before which we three sat, lighting up 
with weird and fantastic effects the sombre foliage of 
the adjacent forest ; the plaintive cry of the distant 
loon ; the harsher notes of the bittern, and the even, 
gentle murmur of the softly lapping waves, all united 
to inspire us with a sense of freedom and happiness 
unknown to the busy world. Serene and contented, 
we " turned in " at ten, with blissful anticipations for 
the morrow. We had not forgotten that prime neces- 
sity of a well-ordered camp, light, but had brought with 
us several pounds of sperm candles, two gallons of oil 
and a good swinging lamp, which, suspended from the 
centre-pole, not only rendered the tent cheerful, but 
gave facilities for performing with ease and ccmfort the 
thousand and one little jobs which precious daylight 
could not be wasted upon. Header, did you ever " camp 
out " in the midst of a dense grove of pine or spruce 
trees ? If not, you have yet to enjoy the luxury of the 
most balmy and refreshing sleep which can bless mortal 



A TROUTING TRIP TO ST IGNACE ISLAND. 103 

man. There is a something in the delicious aroma of 
the resinous woods which induces a perfect repose, ob- 
tainable, in my experience, through no other means. 
A sound, sweet, wholesome, and yet not heavy sleep ; 
quiet and dreamless, and from which you awake, not 
drowsy and cross, but with a buoyancy of spirits, a 
strength of body and clearness of mind which make 
even hard daily toil seem a mere pastime. And so, 
with thankful hearts sank we to rest on this our first 
night at St. Tgnace. There are no black flies on the 
Island, and the season was too far advanced for 
mosquitoes to be troublesome ; facts which added not a 
little to our serenity of mind and took away the last 
excuse for ill-humor. 

The next morning, after partaking of a breakfast 
which fully sustained Jim's reputation as a cook, 
" Squills " and " Bluffy " agreed to go out in the larger 
of the two boats, leaving the small one for me. They 
were provided with various kinds of bait, including frogs, 
worms, grubs, grasshoppers, and minnows, as well as a 
goodly supply of spoons and other lures. I had decided 
upon trying flies for the first day, and if found effect- 
ive I intended to stick to them. The boys anchored 
out at about a hundred yards from shore and went to 
work ; and I moved slowly along the coast-line, closely 
examining the bottom and the lay of the submerged 
rocks, as well as the trend of the contiguous land. When 
an angler is in strange waters he will find this j)relim- 
inary survey to be always a paying operation. By 



104 ' FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

and by I found a lovely-looking reef which extended 
from the shore to deep water. This reef or ledge was 
broad and smooth on one side, but the other dipped 
down sharply, and presented a rough, jagged, and cav- 
ernous face. Here, if anywhere, I judged fontinalis 
would be sure to lurk ; so I anchored within twenty 
feet of the precipitous edge of the reef, with water ap- 
parently about ten feet deep under the boat, but of pro- 
found depth a few yards from the ledge. At that time 
I had no split bamboo rod, a fact which I have ever 
since regretted, but I had an excellent ash and lance- 
wood, which had killed myriads of fish, and is still to 
the fore. I never was and never will be a skilful fly- 
fisherman, or perhaps I should say— as too much mod- 
esty savors of affectation — a skilful fty-caster. 

That is I never could, nor can I yet, make an effect- 
ive and proper cast of over fort} T -two feet from reel to 
fly. I have always found, however, that I take as 
many fish as those artistic anglers who can cast more 
than double that distance. On this occasion I tried a 
white miller as tail fly, and a common gray hackle as 
dropper, and they succeeded so well that I only there- 
after changed them as a matter of experiment. I never 
at any time during this trip used more than two flies 
at once, as that number gave me quite enough to do. 

Well, this morning of which I am now writing, was 
one to make glad the heart of an angler. A southwest 
wind blew softly, and the sun was obscured by warm 
gray clouds. No fish of any decency or self-respect 



A TROUTING TRIP TO ST. IGNACE ISLAND. 105 

could help biting on such a clay ! I felt so sure of good 
luck that I put overboard a wicker-work basket, with 
a hole in the lid, so arranged, with a falling spring door, 
that fish could be put in but could not get out. This 
floated astern and would keep fully a hundred pounds 
of fish alive, if necessary, for any length of time. Hav- 
ing fixed everything to my liking, I stood up and made 
my first cast along the edge of the reef. No result ! 
but I thought I saw a faint suspicion of a shadowy form 
or two, and a slight movement of the water just behind 
my flies. Have been too quick, I thought ; and so 
tried again, letting the flies this time rest until they 
sank an inch or so below the surface, when I attempted 
to draw them slowly in. I say attempted, because they 
had not moved six inches when first the dropper and 
then the tail fly were taken in a rush, by two large trout 
which didn't draw towards me worth a cent, for some 
fifteen minutes at least. On the contrary they darted 
away as if the Old Nick was after them with a red-hot 
frying-pan ; pulling in unison like a pair of well- 
broken colts and severely trying my rather too light 
tackle. Any decided check was out of the question. 
I could only put on such pressure as the single gut 
leader would bear, and that was sufficient to make a 
half-circle of my rod. I had beautiful open water in 
which to play the fish, but as they rushed along and 
down the face of the submerged cliff, I did not know 
what hidden dangers might lurk in the unseen depths, 
nor at what moment a sharp, jagged rock might cut 



106 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

the line, or some profound recess furnish a retreat from 
whence it might be impossible to withdraw my prize. 
So far* however, all went well. The fish in their terror 
had sought deep water and not touched rock at all. 
Soon the distraction of the heavy, ceaseless strain caused 
them to forget the glorious maxim that, " in union is 
strength," and they began to pull different ways. Now 
I was sure of them ! and very gradually and gently, 
inch by inch, I coaxed them away from the dangerous 
ground, and got them safely above the smooth bottom 
of the plateau on the farther side of the boat, where I 
could see their every motion and watch their brave 
struggles for life. A prettier sight I never witnessed 
than the curious way in which the movements of one 
fish neutralized those of the other. If one sought the 
bottom, his mate went for the surface ; if one rushed 
away seawards, the other came towards the boat. They 
literally played each other, and I was for awhile a mere 
spectator ! After looking upon these cross-purposes for 
some minutes, I noticed that the fish on the tail fly be- 
came entangled with the line above his comrade on the 
dropper, and both then began to whirl furiously round 
and round after the usual manner of trout in a like 
predicament. When the wildest of this flurry was over, 
I drew them cautiously to the boat and dipped up both 
at once with my landing net. An immediate applica- 
tion of my pocket scale proved their weight to be twen- 
ty-nine and thirty-three ounces respectively, the heav- 
iest trout being that on the drop or upper fly. They 



A TROUTINQ TRIP TO ST. IGNACE ISLAND. 107 

were evidently a mated pair, and both were broad- 
shouldered, deep fish, bnt not very long, the largest 
being only sixteen and a half inches. Their backs were 
beautifully clouded and mottled, but the carmine spots 
on their sides were not quite so vivid as those of dark 
river- water trout. Fortunately they were merely lip- 
hooked, and being at once placed in the floating creel, 
soon revived. Now I began to feel big, and thought 
myself quite an expert, but in less than five minutes 
the conceit was taken out of me with a vengeance, for 
on my very next cast I struck a magnificent fish and 
lost him, and half my leader, instanter. On feeling the 
hook old Salmo went like a shot over the brow of the 
declivity and (I suppose) into a hole, and cut the line 
short off. After that mishap I became more careful, 
and never dropped my fly more than six inches from 
the edge of the reef ; and whenever a fish was struck I 
drew him at once, at all hazards, away from the risky 
ground and played him on the plateau. 

By ten o'clock I had secured fifteen beauties, some 
running close upon three pounds. Eleven of these were 
as lively as ever, but four had been hooked in the throat 
and soon died. 

As the day was now becoming bright and hot, I 
thought it time to look after my boys, who were out of 
sight around a point. I soon came up with them and 
found " Squills " asleep in the bottom of the boat while 
" Bluffy " sat smoking, with his rod lying idly across 
the gunnel with the line in the water. " What luck, 



108 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

boys ? " I shouted. " Squills " awoke and replied, 
u What luck yourself, Governor ? Not one blessed fish 
in this region." I settled on my sculls, ready for a 
quick start, and said, " Why, Squills, you don't know 
Jioiv to fish. Just compound a few of your best pre- 
scriptions and throw them overboard. They have gen- 
erally proved fatal to your patients, and will murder 
the fish sure." "Squills" made a wicked dab at my 
head with his long-handled net, but a stroke put me in 
safety, and I added, " And you, friend l Bluffy,' just 
rehash that famous trespass-case speech of yours, which 
gave the judge fits and nearly killed the jury, and if 
you don't have lots of dead fish, I'm a Dutchman." 
The poor boys, however, were past joking ; and I rowed 
back and examined their ground. They had actually 
been fishing all the morning in water nine feet deep ; 
over a bottom smooth as a billiard table, without a 
weed, rock or stone to hide them from the fish ; all 
of which, within a hundred yards, could plainly see 
them and their boat. So I said, " Come boys, we'll go 
to camp and have an early trout dinner, and in the 
evening you shall catch fish to your heart's content." 
Then up, after this manner, spoke the dolorous 
" Squills," " That is all right, Governor, but it strikes 
me that in order fully to enjoy a trout-dinner, it is, 
above all things, necessary first to have the trout." 
" True, most sapient medicus, and here they are," I 
rejoined, at the same time lifting the lid of my creel. 
" Glory to Galen ! " " Thunder and turf ! " " Ghost of 



A TROUTING TRIP TO ST. IGXACE ISLAND. 109 

Walton ! where did you get those, Governor ? " both 
exclaimed in a breath. " Boys/' said I, " you are 
hungry, tired, and cross ; possess your souls in patience; 
come to camp ; take some lime-juice and water, with a 
little of something in it ; eat, drink, and recover your 
strength, and you shall have the best afternoon's sport 
you ever saw." These words of wisdom cheered the 
fellows up wonderfully, and we all put off for camp. 

That redolent and shiny youth, Jim, soon cleaned 
two of the dead fish, together about five pounds, cooked 
them in a style of his own, and we sat down at the un- 
fashionable hour of eleven to our first camp dinner. I 
will, for once, give the menu, merely to show what 
awful hardships we had to encounter ! 

Brook trout, fried in red-hot lard, garnished with 
bread crumbs ; broiled mutton chops ; baked j:>otatoes ; 
cold tongue ; pickles ; sauces and jellies : aftercourse — 
pancakes with maple syrup ; wind up — Stilton cheese. 
Didn't we just suffer for our country ? After the in- 
evitable and welcome pipe (not cigars), and some choice 
and (lam happy to say) chaste anecdotes by " Bluffy," 
we laid down for a two hours' siesta. Oh, the glory, the 
happiness of out-door life, away from posts, telegraphs, 
or newspapers ! Oh, the delight of feeling that every 
fresh breath of pure ozone-laden air, adds to health and 
wholesome animal spirits, and is rapidly re-invigorat- 
ing your system, and fitting you to more effectually 
take part in renewed and honest work ! 

At four o'clock the sun was again obscured by kindly 



HO FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

clouds and we all went out to the reef ; the boys, as 
before, in one boat, and I in the other. And then oc- 
curred sport such as is seldom seen in genuine trout- 
fishing. My friends stuck to their minnow and grass- 
hopper bait, while I retained the fly. I induced them 
to anchor quite close to the edge of the reef, so that 
they might, if necessary, drop their lines perpendicu- 
larly down its face. They had not fished five minutes 
when "Bluffy" gave a whoop, which might have 
awakened a petit-juror or scared a witness out of his 
boots. I glanced that way, and found the man of law 
standing up in the boat with curved and straining rod 
and a glow of intense satisfaction pervading his jolly 
countenance. "I've got him, Governor! He's a 
whopper ; an old he fellow ! None of your three 
pounders," he yelled in great excitement. Sure enough, 
he had him, and after ten minutes of skilful play, 
landed a trout of over four pounds. 

This beat me all hollow ! Indeed the largest S. fon- 
tinalis I took on this trip weighed three pounds, one 
ounce, being two ounces lighter than the heaviest I 
have ever yet caught. 

" Squills " now got his hand, in and brought out a 
dashing fish of three and a-half pounds, in a manner so 
pretty and artistic as to elicit a warm eulogium from the 
" Governor," who, of course, had not meantime been 
idle himself. In fact, I had taken a double and single 
while the boys got their two ; but these outweighed my 
three. All through our excursion the largest fish were 



A TROUTING TRIP TO ST IGNACE ISLAND. Ill 

invariably taken by bait, but not so many of them as 
by the fly. However, the fly was so much less trouble 
and so much prettier, and cleaner to handle, I did not 
care to change, seeing at once that we should catch 
more fish than we wanted anyway. 

It was a great treat to me to watch the enjoyment 
the boys had in their sport. Neither of them had been 
out before for years, and no student at the beginning 
of a long vacation could have manifested such un- 
bounded delight at his freedom, as did they with their 
fishing and its accompanying pleasures. It is a fact 
worthy of note that while I, using the fly, took only 
speckled trout (S. fontinalis), my friends, with bait, 
secured several of other and larger kinds. 

Well, amid laughter, joke and repartee, the after- 
noon wore away, and evening shades came all too 
quickly. 

Our sport had been almost unique in its exhilarating 
success and joyousness. When the sun sank below 
the waters we had taken in all seventy-six fine trout, 
none under one pound. Of this number my fly was 
responsible for thirty-two, " Squills " had taken twen- 
ty-one, and " Bluffy " twenty-three. A lovelier lot of 
fish was never seen ; and with the exception of eight 
dead ones, Ave transferred them all safely to the corral, 
built in the edge of the lake near our tent, with large 
stones. Here, about eighty per cent, of all the fish 
taken on this trip remained alive during the whole time 
of our stay. Whenever one showed signs of failing 



112 FISHING WITH THE FIT. 

we dipped him out for present use. This corral, 
backed up by our supply of ice, gave us full assurances 
that our good luck would not be followed by reckless 
waste. 

But I had almost forgotten the chief incident of this 
memorable day. As we approached the camp we saw 
"Jim" on the shore dancing a double "Virginny 
break-down " and grinning all oyer from head to foot ; 
his shining ebony face and gleaming teeth fairly illum- 
inating the coming darkness. On seeing us he yelled 
out, " I got him, gentlemen ; I beats you all ; takes this 
nigger to catch fish ! " 

The imp had actually made for himself a raft of 
drift-wood, paddled it out to deep water, and taken 
with bait a great salmon trout of twenty pounds ! and 
it was now swimming about in the corral like a very 
leviathan among my morning's catch. This tickled us 
all so immensely that we then and there bestowed upon 
" Jim " an extra " quarter " each. This boy was indeed 
a treasure ; a first-class cook and care-taker ; willing, 
faithful, and honest ; while his store of songs, exhibits 
of dancing, and never-failing fun and good-humor, 
would have sufficed to keep cheerful any camp in the 
world. Poor fellow ! he was drowned two years later 
in Lake Michigan, while bathing. 

If I did not fear to spin out this already dull narra- 
tive to an inordinate length, I should like to give a 
detailed account of each of the twelve days we fished 
and shot in this vicinity. 



A TROUTINO TRIP TO ST. ION ACE ISLAND. 113 

Twelve days only, mind you, for not a line was wet 
on Sunday. 

Our one rifle proved a useful adjunct, but we found 
no use for the shot-guns, the season being too early and 
the weather too fine for ducks. The delicately sighted 
Winchester, however, procured us several fine si>eciniens 
of the loon or great northern diver, and one or two 
large blue cranes, all of which, I presume, now adorn 
" Squills' " sanctum in British Columbia. 

Almost every day we had choice sport, and we limited 
our catch only by the facilities we possessed for saving 
and carrying away the fish. 

One particular day we devoted to salmon and red trout, 
which we fished for away off in very deep water, all of 
us using either spoons or live herring bait, in trolling. 
We had plenty of wholesome exercise in rowing, and 
very fair luck as regards fish ; taking in all, seven sal- 
mon trout and five red trout. 

The honors of this day fell to " Squills," who cap- 
tured with his spoon a salmon trout of nineteen 
pounds, while I got a red trout of ten pounds. This 
last named fish is as pink in the flesh and as fine fla- 
vored as Salmo salar. It is said by local fishermen to 
be in fact the same fish, and they suppose that in ages 
long past sea salmon had some means of reaching this 
lake, and when the waters subsided some were left, and 
that from them the red trout is descended. As I have 
myself no scientific knowledge whatever I cannot offer 
an opinion upon this point. I can only say that if a 
8 



114 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

skilled fisherman, or even a scientist, were to receive one 
of these fish from, say Quebec, he could hardly distin- 
guish it from the veritable Salmo solar, though it bears 
even a more exact resemblance to the salmon of Frazer 
River, British Columbia. 

I am told that this red trout will rise to the fly, but 
I cannot vouch for the fact, as all we took were captured 
with bait or spoon. 

A rather curious, though frequently occurring, thing 
happened one evening as we were all fishing, with our 
boats not more than fifty feet apart. I had hooked, 
and was playing a medium sized speckled trout, when 
it was seized and gorged by a sixteen -pound salmon 
trout. I realized the situation instantly and gave 
line freely, so as to allow the poacher lots of time 
to swallow his stolen prey. The rifle was in the 
other boat, and I asked the boys to come alongside, as 
we should probably have to use cold lead, the fish being 
too large for our landing nets. By the time they were 
in position, about sixty feet of my line had gone slow- 
ly out, and I judged that the large fish had got the 
small one fairly in his stomach. I then began to reel 
in very gently, and was surprised to imd that the big 
trout followed my lead with great docility until I had 
brought him quite near the surface. Then he became 
alarmed and dashed off — a proceeding to which I made 
no resistance, as I feared pulling the bait from his 
throat. Being apparently satisfied that all was right, 
my unknown friend soon became quiescent, and I could 



A TBOUTING TRIP TO ST. IGNACE ISLAND. 115 

only feel a slight tremor of the line as he settled his 
supper satisfactorily in his maw. Again I coaxed him 
slowly and cautiously towards the boat in which stood 
" Bluffy " with poised rifle. This time I ventured to 
make him show himself within twenty feet of the 
muzzle of the gun, when " Bluffy " very neatly put a 
bullet through his head, and he turned belly up and 
was got on board. " Well done, i Bluffy,'" said 
" Squills ; " " your practice could not have done greater 
execution if you had been making out a bill of costs for 
a client." " Well, no," says " Bluffy ; " " but I think 
perhaps one of your curative pills would have killed the 
fish more unutterably dead." " Peace, boys, peace," 
said the " Governor " ; " this is a solemn occasion ; we 
hare used unlawful and unsportsmanlike means to take 
a game fish ; but as it could not be helped we will con- 
done the offence by giving the fish away to the first de- 
serving object we meet." " And that will be ' Jim,' ; 
quietly observed "Squills." 

But dear me ! what is the use of trying to tell all the 
fun and glorious sport we had ? The pen of a " Frank 
Forester " or a Hallock might do justice to the subject, 
mine cannot. Suffice it to say that, as the days went 
on, each one made me feel younger and younger, until 
I found it hard to convince myself that I was over 
twenty-five. As to my comrades, we had not been out 
a week before they were boys of sixteen ! 

Last days will come, however, and all too quickly, let 
us bear up never so bravely. The fifteenth morning 



116 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

saw us packing up unci preparing to return once more 
to civilized life and " the busy haunts of men." 

I am afraid to say how many trout we had at the 
finish, but I know that we packed in ice more than 
three hundred pounds weight to take home with us; 
and gave a way. almost alive from the corral, nearly as 
many more to the captain of the steamer, thereby call- 
ing down upon our heads the earnest blessings of pas- 
sengers and crew. 

I find, on looking over this MS. that I have forgotten 
to say that we discovered several places along the chan- 
nel edge of the island where most excellent trout-fish- 
ing could be had from the shore ; and that, by the ad- 
vice of local fishermen, my friends tried the "hearts" 
of killed trout as bait, and found such very effective. 
This " heart " is a piece of flesh which lies inside the 
pointed part of the fish's belly which runs between the 
gill covers. It looks much like a genuine heart, and 
pulsates for several seconds after being removed from 
the fish. I suppose that it is in fact a real heart. 
Never once did this bait fail to attract a bite ; but, of 
course, not many hearts could be obtained, as we ex- 
tracted the delicate morsel only from such fish as were 
required for immediate consumj^tion. 

We finally bade farewell to our two weeks' elysium, 
with sorrowful feelings, but before the lapse of twenty- 
four hours, kind and loving thoughts of wives, little 
ones, and home re-asserted themselves, and we landed 
at Collingwood in jubilant spirits and vigorous health, 



A TROUTING TRIP TO ST. IGNACE ISLAND. 117 

fully prepared to resume our several avocations, and 
fight again the battles of life with renewed courage and 
hope. 

P.S. — We were absent from Barrie twenty-five days 
in all, and the whole trip cost us only one hundred and 
thirty-five dollars, or forty-five dollars each. Our ice 
was kept almost intact by being wrapped in blankets 
and covered with spruce boughs. Mr. Boon, before 
referred to, has built and is this winter (1883) filling a 
large ice-house on the small island for his own use and 
that of any visitors who may fish in the neighborhood 
next summer. Mr. Boon took five hundred half barrels 
of choice fish on these grounds last season ; with nets, 
of course. 



THE ANGLER'S GREETING. 

BY 

W. DAVID TOMLIN. 



Whither away, friend ! Your black slender rod-box 
and the creel denote you are on fishing intent, but 
where are you bound ? 

A momentary glance, a cordial good evening ; the 
question then came — To whom am I indebted for this 
greeting ? An exchange of cards resulted in a long 
and cordial grasp of hands ; glad to meet you ! Is it 
possible ? The magic pasteboard revealed two names 
not unknown to each other through the columns of 
their favorite angling journal, and this visitor had come 
to the little country station in quest of some of the fish- 
ing often spoken of in the said paper. 

The fates had led the correspondent to the railway 
station to bid good-bye to a friend when the angler un- 
limbered himself therefrom ; and was looking around 
as strangers do. 

" Can you recommend a quiet inn near this point 
where I can find decent treatment ? I am not inclined 
to be fussy." 

A few minutes' walk and I introduced him to mine 
host, who was a genuine piscator, and nothing pleased 



120 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

him better than to have an angler under his roof : he 
took j)ossession of him and considered nothing too 
much trouble, so long as he gave his guests good fish- 
ing, clean beds, a square meal, and satisfaction. 

While supper was being prepared, we pleasantly 
chatted over the prospect of sport, and the angler's aim 
and ambition. He wanted a day or two of trouting, 
and some roach fishing with a fly, as he had read some 
letters giving an experience in fishing for these dainty 
fish, and intended trying them. The inspection of a 
well-filled fly-book showed how carefully he had selected 
his stock. 

The early supper over, we strolled up the hillsides 
overlooking this lovely vale. On the grassy downs we 
seated ourselves, and I pointed out to him the various 
fishing points ; yonder is a sjflendid reach where the 
trout are always found ; see that sheeny rivulet coming 
down through that clump of trees ! that is the best 
trout stream in this section of country. 

Note the different water-courses. The canal runs 
through the middle of the valley ; see here, clear away 
to the west, a little brook comes tumbling in ; see just 
below that point, a silvery-looking stream on the farther 
side of the canal — that is a fine trout stream ; follow its 
course until it loses itself in that big clump of willows : 
a saw-mill is hidden in those willows, and the stream, 
after supplying the mill with power, drops into a cul- 
vert under the bed of the canal ; there it is again in 
that piece of open moorland ; there it is coming out 



THE ANGLERS GREETING. Ml 

from that long clump of willows, and finally joining 
the stream mentioned before as the best trout stream 
in this region ; thus the two streams, the Gade and the 
little Bourne, are swallowed up in the canal ; and have 
always been splendid waters for roach fishing. 

The hills hide the canal and streams in their wind- 
ing course, or I would point out to you the best fishing 
grounds for miles along this Hertfordshire valley ; but I 
presume there lies under your observation enough fish- 
ing ground for a day or two. 

The sun is tending downward like a huge ball of fire, 
the vale is in a dreamy shade ; how glistening the ap- 
pearance of the water-courses, like a big silvery thread 
winding in and out along the vale ! the evening air is 
full of music ; the bee is humming around you ; what 
a flood of music comes from the throat of that wood- 
land thrush in yonder thorn hedge ! the strain is taken 
up, and the very woods echo again with the song of the 
black-bird. As he ceases his roundelay, the soft clear 
note of another bird strikes on the ear ; for the moment* 
nature seems hushed ; almost breathless you wait ; the 
notes come rich and clear, as silvery as a lute, a flood 
of melody ; the sound dies away and instantly the 
woods ring again ; all the sweet-throated songsters 
seem as if applauding the song of the nightingale ; we 
sit and drink in these sounds, until one by one the 
songs drop into silence, leaving the nightingale to pour 
out its tuneful music until far into the night. At this 
moment there comes in the air the quivering boom of a 



122 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

bell ringing out the hour of nine from the steeple of the 
church yonder, faintly limned on the evening shadows. 
All ! listen again ! there comes the evening chime. 
How the quivering notes pulsate up here on thesa hill- 
tops ! how silvery the tones ; as the chords of the vesper 
hymn rings out sweet and clear, our hearts beat in 
rhythm to the strain ! Lovely vale ! Israel's grandest 
seer, who with eye undimmed and natural- force un- 
abated, even from Pisgah's lofty heights gazed on no 
lovelier scene than this we have surveyed. We descend 
into the shadows ; promising to meet my angling friend 
some time during the following day, I wend my way 
homeward and to rest. 

The evening shadows were again falling ere I could 
join our angler, but the flies were on the waters and 
roach were fairly jumping, the surface of the stream 
was alive with fish, both roach and dace breaking water 
around us. My friend was no novice ; I found him 
whipping the stream from bank to bank, and his creel 
testified to his success. He was using a tail fly and 
dropper, a red hackle for the former, and an imitation 
of the common blue house-fly for the dropper. These 
fish are fastidious in their tastes ; they do not rise at 
flies like a trout, but come to the surface of the water 
and just break for the fly and at once turn tail up. He 
who fishes for them must have a quick eye and steady 
hand ; then he can kill readily enough. They are a 
toothsome fish, but a trifle bony. Eye and hand must 
work together, and when fish are feeding they will readdy 



THE ANGLER'S GREETING. 123 

take the fly. They are tender in the mouth and re- 
quire care in handling. They afford good sport in 
streams where they are abundant, and are often ki-lled 
weighing from one and a-half to two pounds. 

My angling friend had come well prepared with let- 
ters introducing him to the owners of the fine trout 
streams, and readily obtained permission to fish these 
preserved waters. It was rare sport to watch him 
daintily lay out his line across the stream, his stretcher 
a June fly, or at times a floating May-fly skittered 
across the surface until close to the farther bank. Here 
lay a big Sabno fario. AVe had been watching him 
lazily coming to the surface to suck in a fly or bug that 
had tumbled from the trees overhead. A big cock- 
chafer came spinning and buzzing down stream. All 
laziness gone in an instant, up came the Sahno showing 
his huge sides. A fierce lunge and a heavy splash and 
the 'chafer was gone into the cavern of the open 
mouth. The fly-book was out in an instant. A dark 
brown fly somewhat resembling the 'chafer replaced 
the stretcher. A careful cast a little up stream, a 
lunge and a miss from the trout. Another cast close 
in to the bank, a slight jerk and the fly assumed the 
appearance of the buzzing 'chafer ; the same sharp 
dash, the hand was as quick as the trout this time, 
the hook was driven home and the fun began. Such 
a dashing, splurging, rushing I had never seen. He 
was determined to use every art known to trout-lore 
before he surrendered. The rod bent and sprung, the 



124 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

line fairly swished as lie tore up stream ; aboye him 
lay the limb of a tree, scraggy and ragged ; toward 
this he plunged, but the line tightened on him ; he 
tugged and jerked, biu gained not an inch ; he came to 
the surface and thrashed the water with his broad tail. 
Fatal error ! as he did so the line came in as fast as 
fingers could fly round, the landing net was slipped 
under him, a quick upward movement and Master 
Salmo was flung high and dry. He was too big for 
the net and so was ignominiously flung ashore. 

What a noble trout ! His silver sides and belly 
gleamed in the light, his blood-red spots seemed to glow 
with indignation at his cruel death. He had long been 
a lordling over the other trout and now was strangling ! 
Kill him ! I cannot bear to see a trout gasping. Killed 
and scaled he weighs three and a half pounds. A credit 
to the angler : but at times, during the contest, it was a 
question to which the honor belonged ; it was : ' i Splen- 
did rod !" "Ah ! how skilfully he handles his fish." 
" Who would have dreamt that little thing would have 
stood such a strain ? " 

Gentle angler, let us leave our friend to the contem- 
plation of the beauties of the fairest of all England's 
garden landscapes, and the preserved trout streams, 
and plunge with me into an American forest. 

By a beautiful lake in the famous State of Michigan 
a little settlement is springing up. Over in that bay 
is a trout creek emjitying ; it is full of trout — trout 
galore — trout by the hundreds can be seen. Come with 



THE ANGLER'S GREETING. 125 

me, I will show them to you. Let me drop a fly 
into this hole. Ah ! there he is ! see him dash for it. 
He won't come again, let us push along. 

Push along, you say ? do you ex]3ect I am coming 
through that brush ? Not much ; I am not a crank. 
If you are so fond of trying to break your neck for a 
string of trout, why go. I go ! am quite willing to 
be alone on this lovely little creek, for it contains some 
of the handsomest trout it has ever been my good luck 
to kill. Here and there I drop in a fly ; sometimes a 
" Yellow May," sometimes a " Professor," sometimes a 
" Stone-fly " ; once in a while an " Ibis " is fancied by 
some fastidious trout. Now and then a "Floating 
May-fly " seems a favorite. Where the brush overhangs 
and is a darksome, lonely spot, I drop in a "Koyal 
Coachman," and out comes a big trout lusty and fight- 
ing ; sometimes fancy flies are spurned and hackles of 
all colors kill ; then a fly composed of alternate feath- 
ers, red and white, of no name, but a favorite with 
the writer, will kill when trout will not take any other 

I am enjoying the fun, and the creel is getting 
heavy. Half a mile of fishing and twenty-five hand- 
some trout is doing good enough for mid-day fishing. 

As the evening falls I take my split bamboo and the 
fly-book, pull on the wading boots, and go down to the 
mouth of the creek, wading out until I am as far as the 
sand runs. I cast out more for practice than to expect 
trout. I have on a big bass-fly large enough for a sal- 



126 FISHING WITH THE FIT. 

mon-fly. As it strikes the water twentjvfive feet from 
me there is a commotion. " Ye gods and little fishes ! " 
What was the fuss ? I cast again, and as true as I am 
here if a number of trout did not jump clear out for that 
fly, big as it was ! Hastily reeling in I put on a dun- 
colored fly, and cast again ; the same junip and dash, 
but no trout. Changing my flies until at last I put on 
as a stretcher a " White Miller," I flung out clear be- 
yond any former cast into the midst of what appeared 
like a boiling spring. The fly dropped softly and out 
came a host of trout. School kept just then, for I cer- 
tainly had struck a school of trout. Striking, I fast- 
ened into a fine fish ; reeling in, I dried my fly and cast 
again and hooked again. The fun grew fast and furious ; 
my little bamboo swished and bent ; hooks were snipped 
off ; I was excited and jubilant, when along came an 
itinerant parson. The twenty-five or thirty trout I 
had, set him longing ; he must fish. Jerking off his 
boots, pulling up his pants, he waded into the icy cold 
water equipped with a stick cut from the forest. He 
had nosed out a line and some hooks from a supply I 
had left on the bank in my fishing-case, and without so 
much as "by your leave " began threshing the water as 
close to the school as he could get his line ; this was 
baited with a piece of dead fish. To say that I was dis- 
gusted faintly expresses my feeling. I would have 
ceased fishing, but my friend with whom I was stay- 
ing said, "No, don't stop while sport is so good." 
I put on a " Royal Coachman " and cast out again, 



THE ANGLERS GREETING. 127 

hooking and bringing out' trout every second or third 
cast. I began casting wide, the school followed my 
flies. I tried the "Professor's," "Dun's," "Hackle's," 
"Seth Green," "Governor," and " May- flies," with 
good success. With one pure " Yellow May " I caught 
a dozen handsome trout, but in this event the even- 
ing shadows were fast falling. As they deepened, the 
"Royal Coachman " and "White Millers" were the 
killing flies. I cast until I could not see where my 
flies fell, and even then once in a while hooked and 
brought in a trout. 

I had been thoughtless enough to leave my creel up 
in the house, never expecting to have this run of good 
luck. All my trout were taken from the hook and 
thrown twenty-five feet to shore. I lost many of them 
in this way. Thirty my friends claimed, yet when I 
came to count tails, I found forty as handsome trout as 
ever man wished to see, and all caught from 6 in the 
evening until dark, about 7.45. I had no net, no creel, 
therefore had to lead my trout into my hand. The 
friend at whose house I was staying claims I lost more 
than I caught by having them flounder off the hook 
while trying to take them by the gills, and by flinging 
them ashore. 

I have used flies on this creek many times, but never 
had such luck before nor since. My experience has 
been that the fine fancy flies of the eastern streams are 
useless on these Michigan streams ; the nearer the flies 
approach to a species of small moth found flitting 



128 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

amidst the foliage of the forest, the greater the success. 
A word, brother angler, and I have done. Learn to 
cast a fly, and you will never go back to bait fishing 
from choice. Get good flies, and you won't regret the 
extra money they cost you ; don't buy cheap imitations 
or trade made flies — " they are frauds." 

Don't buy a pole big enough for the staff of a Philis- 
tine Goliath ; to fish for trout, buy a fine rod, take care 
of it, learn to use it thoroughly. Never buy a cheap 
rod ; a rod fit for trouting must be as fine as it is pos- 
sible to make them, and it should not make a shadow 
on the water. Cheap rods are like cheap guns, scham- 
dahms ! Good trout rods cost a good deal of time and 
labor ; cheap rods are turned out in a rapid-running 
lathe. They are a delusion. Get the best materials 
of everything you need, and buy of a good maker. 
Never be tempted to buy " cheap flies because they are 
bargains" — cheap rods because some one is selling out ; 
"want to get out of the business, no money in it." 
Eemember you are the party who will be sold. Cheap 
things for trouting are a "fraud, a delusion, and a 
snare." 

Almost every angler has been bitten, but the prevail- 
ing opinion is : buy the best tackle your pocket-book 
can afford and take care of it. And my word for it, 
as an angler who learned to cast a line for pickerel at 
ten years old, you will love the sport and think it the 
best way to spend a summer's vacation of any amuse- 
ment under the sun. 



TROUT FLIES. 




Made by C.F.ORVIS. Manchester, Vt 



CO PYR I G H T E D 



" In using the fly the object is to imitate the movements of the 
natural insect as nearly as possible. To drop the line naturally 
on the water, and then to keep the fly endued with life, is the 
stratagem. From the moment the fly touches the water the 
angler should keep his eye on it. Trout often feed a little under 
the surface ; they do not always break when they rise, but quietly 
suck in the fly." — Charles Bollock. 

" 'An angler, sir, uses the finest tackle, and catches his fish 
scientifically— trout, for instance — with the artificial fly, and he is 
mostly a quiet, well-behaved gentleman. A fisherman, sir, uses 
any kind of 'ooks and lines, and catches them any way ; so he 
gets them it's all one to 'im, and n. is generally a noisy fellah, 
sir, something like a gunner.' " — Doctor Bethune. 



1 6. 


Silver Black. 


*7- 


Scarlet Ibis. 


18. 


Stone Fly. 


19- 


White Miller. 


20. 


Fiery Brown. 


21. 


Yellow Drake. 


22. 


Grir ilj King. 


23- 


Imbrie. 


24. 


Soldier Palmer. 


25- 


Cha 


26. 


Portland. 


27. 


Ethel May. 


28. 


Pale Evening 


26. 


Great Dun. 


30. 


Whimbrel. 




Dun. 











" Be stiP moving your fly upon the water, or casting it into the 
water ; you yourself, being also alwaies moving down the stream 
— Izaak Walton. 

" When once alarmed, trout will never bite." — Seth Green. 

" Fly-fishers are usually brain-workers in society. Along the 
banks of purling streams, beneath the shadows of umbrageous 
trees, or in the secluded nooks of charming lakes, they have ever 
been found, drinking deep of the invigorating forces of nature — 
giving rest and tone to over-taxed brains and wearied nerves — 
while gracefully wielding the supple rod, the invisible leader, and 
the fairy-like fly."— James A. Eensliall, M.D. 
9 



" It is generally true that if a trout is pricked by a fly-hook he 
will not rise to it again." — W. C. Prime. 

" Christopher North. — Would you believe it, my dear Shep- 
herd, that my piscatory passions are almost dead within me ; and 
I like now to saunter along the banks and braes, eyeing the 
younkers angling, or to lay me down on some sunny spot, and 
with my face up to heaven, watch the slow changing clouds ! " 

" Shepherd. — I'll no believe that, sir, till I see 't — and scarcely 
then — for a bluidier- minded fisher nor Christopher North never 
threw a hackle. Your creel fu' — your shootin'-bag fu' — your 
jacket-pouches fu', the pouches o' your verra breeks fu' — half-a- 
dozen wee anes in your waistcoat, no' to forget them in the croon 
o' your hat, — and, last o' a', when there's nae place to stow awa 
ony mair o' them, a willow- wand drawn through the gills of 
some great big anes, like them ither folk would grup wi' the worm 
or themennon— but a' gruppit wi' the flee — Phin's delight, as you 
ca't, — a killen inseck — and on gut that's no easily broken — wit- 
ness yon four pounder aneath Elibank wood, where your line, sir, 
got entangled wi' the auld oak-root, and yet at last ye landed 
him on the bank, wi' a' his crosses and his stars glitterin' like gold 
and silver amang the gravel ! I confess, sir, you're the King o' 
Anglers. But dinna tell me that you have lost your passion for 
the art ; for we never lose our passion for ony pastime at which 
we continue to excel." 



THE LUKE. 

BY 

" BOURGEOIS." 



Among the delightful summer resorts of Colorado 
Estes Park may be justly considered one of the most 
attractive. It is now easy of access. Seven years ago 
it began to be frequented, the trail having given way to 
the wagon road. Before the days of easy ingress, I had m 
cast my lures upon the waters of the Thompson and Fall 
River, with gratifying success. 

In the summer of 1875, the Governor, the Governor's 
mother, and myself, determined upon Estes Park for a 
six weeks' vacation. With this end in view, in the 
latter part of July, I sent off the team loaded with the 
camp outfit. 

Two days after we took the morning train for Long- 
mont, on the Colorado Central, and had an early lunch 
at the tail end of the wagon just outside the town. Be- 
fore noon we were on the fifteen-mile drive into the 
canon of the St. Vrain, for camp. 

By sunrise the following morning we had started, 
with twenty miles to make over a new road part of the 
way, and no road at all in places, and the places were 
many. However, we had to hitch on to the end of the 



132 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

tongue but once, to snake the wagon oyer an otherwise 
impassable boulder. The rock stood a foot out of 
ground, stretched entirely across where the road was to 
be, and at an angle of 45°. The team could barely get a 
foothold upon the top, when the traces were let out full, 
and the double-tree hooked on the end of the tongue. 
The horses understood their business, and upon a word 
settled their shoulders into the collars together, the 
breeching gradually lifted as their knees bent a little ; 
without a slip their iron-shod hoofs held to the hard 
granite, and we were up as deftly as a "French dancing 
master would raise his hat to a lady. In travelling in 
the hills there is nothing so gratifying as a team whose 
pulling powers you can swear by ; a balky horse is an 
engine of destruction or death ; if you know his fail- 
ing, shoot him before you reach the foothills. 

As the sun dropped behind the range, lighting up 
the high peaks with his golden rays, and the pines were 
beginning to take on tints of darker green, we reached 
the head of the Park, and within three miles of our 
camping ground. To the right of us " Olympus," with 
the dying sunlight dancing on his granite head, to the 
left Long's Peak, with patches of snow here and there, 
towering godlike above the surrounding giants. Be- 
fore us, Prospect Mountain with its rugged front far 
reaching above its robes of green, while around its base 
and toward us came leaping the beautiful mountain 
stream for two miles through the meadow-hued park, 
with scarce a willow upon its banks. What a place to 



TEE LURE. 133 

cast a fly ! Aye, indeed it is ; and what a place it was 
to catch trout. But we must move on around Prospect 
Mountain to Ferguson's for camp, which we make on a 
little eminence near a great spring and close by the 
cabin where we know we shall be welcome. 

A late supper disposed of, and the Governor stowed 
away in the blankets, Ferguson and I fall talking at 
his broad fire-place about Horse Shoe Park and Fall 
River ; of course trout are plenty there ; he had been 
up the day before and knew whereof he spoke ; yes, 
there were quite a number of tourists in the park, but 
the streams were not "fished out." He rather thought 
that with " a pole " to every rod of the stream the fish- 
ing improved ; at least for him. 

Our genial friend who obeyed Joshua in the long ago, 
was out of bed next day sooner than I. Dick, the pony, 
gave me a cheerful good morning as I put in an appear- 
ance and changed his picket pin. I received his salu- 
tation as a good omen. 

Breakfast over and Dick saddled, it was eight o'clock. 
We had five miles to go. I strapped my rod and creel 
to the pommel, and with a caution to the Governor's 
mother not to let him fall into the spring, Ferguson 
and I were off. There was no occasion to hurry ; if we 
reached the beaver-dams in Horse Shoe Park by ten 
o'clock we would be just in time. Experience had 
taught me that the two hours before noon, and after 
five o'clock were the hours for success. 

Our route was a " cut off " without any trail, but 



134 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

familiar; across the Thompson, up stream, westward for 
a mile, we turned up a " draw " to the right, for a swale 
in the ridge dividing the Thompson and its tributary, 
Fall River. By nine o'clock we had reached the sum- 
mit of the divide. Before and below us lay a beautiful 
park, three miles in length, by a mile in width toward 
its upper end, where it rounded at the base of the 
mountain range, giving it the shape of a horse shoe, 
which no doubt suggested its name. To the north it 
is guarded by an immense mountain of rocks, where 
towering and impenetrable cliffs stand out against the 
background of blue sky, as though the Titans had some 
time builded there, and mother earth had turned their 
castles into ruins, and left them as monuments of her 
power. To the south a long, low-lying, pine-covered 
hill, while from the range in the west with its snow 
covered summit and base of soft verdure, comes a limpid 
stream winding down through the grass-covered park, 
its course marked by the deeper green of the wild grass 
and the willows. A mile away a band of mountain 
sheep are feeding ; they have evidently been down to 
water and are making their way back to their haunts 
in the cliffs, and whence we know they will quickly 
scud when they see or wind us. Ferguson longed for 
his rifle ; it was just his luck ; he had the "old girl " 
with him the last time, but " nary hoof " had he seen. 
To me they were precious hints of man's absence, and 
the wilderness. 

Reaching the stream we picketed the ponies in the 



THE L URE. 135 

grass to their knees ; the nutritious mountain grass, 
the mother of cream so thick that you haye to dip it 
out of the jug with a spoon. The ponies were happy, 
and I became nervous ; it seemed half an hour before 
I could get my tackle rigged. But after I had sent my 
favorite gray hackle on its mission and had snatched 
a ten-inch trout from his native element, my nerves 
were braced. A second and a third followed ; I heard 
nothing from Ferguson except the "swish'' of his old 
cane pole above the music of the waters. The trout 
struck and I landed them so fast that the sport began 
to be monotonous, and I followed up the sound of the 
cane. Going round a clump of willows I discovered the 
old gentleman upon the edge of the pool, and that old 
rod going up and down with the regularity of a trip 
hammer, the owner combining business and sport. I 
asked him what he was doing ; he said he was fishing, 
and I thought he was. 

Wandering up stream, taking it leisurely, I had by 
noon filled my creel, and was enjoying a sandwich 
under the shelter of some willows, when my companion 
came along with his sixteen pound lard-can filled, be- 
sides a dozen upon a stick. I asked him when he in- 
tended to quit. He said he had never seen fish "bite" 
so ; he hated to stop, and yet had all he could carry, 
but concluded with me that enough was as good as a 
feast. Then he began to banter me about my ash and 
lancewood, and the excess of his catch over mine. I 
told him to wait till some other day. It came in the 



136 FISHING WITH THE FIT. 

course of time, upon the same stream. The trout re- 
fused everything I had, grasshoppers included. Finally 
I fished up an old fly-book from the depths of my coat 
pocket, and in it were half a dozen nameless blue-bodied 
flies with a mouse-colored feather ivpon a number six 
Kirby. Upon sight, I remembered to hare discarded 
them in disgust, but I thought I would try one for luck, 
and lo ! the mystery was solved. I had been working 
industriously for two hours and had two trout. Fergu- 
son had been no more successful, but was in sight when 
the trout began to rise to my cast-off fly. He came 
down my way, wanted to know what I was using, 
arid I gave him one ; he lost that and his leader in some 
half-sunken brush, and I gave him another. But his 
good genius had deserted him ; I persuaded a trout 
right away from his lure, and he quit in disgust, while 
I said never a word. Though a little sensitive upon the 
score of success, he was and is a genial and companion- 
able angler, and one who can make a good cast withal, 
an he have proper tools. 

Willow Park, an adjunct to Estes Park, through 
which runs a branch of the Thompson, has afforded me 
many a day's sport, and is nearer to camp. Upon a 
memorable occasion I had been fishing down stream, 
when, with a well-filled creel, I encountered a gigantic 
boulder on the bank. Just beyond it was a pool that 
was suggestive ; to reach the base of the boulder it was 
necessary to get over a little bayou of about five feet in 
width and three in depth. To jump it were easy but 



THE LURE. 137 

for the willows, yet I must get to that pool. Selecting 
a place where I think the willows will give way to my 
weight, I essay the leap. My feet reach the opposite 
bank, my body presses back the brush, but I feel a re- 
bound that assures me of my fate. I clutch frantically 
at the swaying bush ; it breaks in my hand, and I sit 
down quite helplessly, muttering a prayer till the cold 
water bids me shut my mouth. Emerging I hear a well 
defined laugh, but not being in the mind to fe*ar the 
spirits that haunt these wilds, I make for the base of 
that boulder and the coveted pool. A moment after I 
discover a face bedecked with glasses upon the oppo- 
site side of the brook, and recognize the smiling coun- 
tenance of a genial member of the guild looking at me 
through the willows. 

"Oh, is that you ?" 

To this lucid inquiry I reply in the affirmative. 

" Where's Ferguson ? " 

"At home, I suppose." 

" I thought I heard him fall in the creek." 

I told him I did not think Ferguson had a monopoly 
of the bathing privileges of the Thompson and its 
tributaries. 

" Well, I thought it was funny." 

" Thought what was funny ? " 

"Why, I heard the splash, and supposed it was Fer- 
guson ; then I remembered Ferguson was a church 
member in good standing." 

I took my revenge by competing with my brother for 



138 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

the contents of that pool, and beat him by one. But to 
this day he greets me with a smile. When I got back 
to camp I learned that the Governor had been trying to 
follow in the footsteps of his father, and had tum- 
bled into the spring. He had been fished out by the 
combined efforts of his mother and Mrs. Ferguson, and 
I discovered him swathed in a blanket by the kitchen 
stove, mad as a hornet ; I shook hands with him. 

Our camp is pitched in a pleasant spot, with two tall 
j)ines, a hundred feet away, for sentinels. Coup do 
soleil is unknown in Colorado, so I prefer the sun's rays 
to lightning, especially while trees seared from top to 
bottom are plentiful in the Park as monitors. To the 
right is Prospect Mountain, with its west end a beetling 
cliff, perhaps two thousand feet high, where I once had 
the buck-ague during an interview with a "big-horn." 
To the left and in front, the range, where the storm- 
king holds high carnival, while lower down and nearer 
is a mountain of toAvers and pinnacles of brown and 
red and gray, carved out by that whimsical sculptor, 
Old Time. With the sun for. my artist, the range for 
both his easel and background, I have lounged away 
many an hour under one of the old pines. My gaze 
wandering down the green slope to the river half a mile 
away, and with the weird music of the tumbling waters 
coming and receding on the summer breeze to help my 
dreams, we have together wrought out fantastic ruins 
and ghostly shapes to people them. A drifting cloud, 
perhaps, will change a barbacan to a spire, and a Doric 



THE LURE. 139 

capital to a Corinthian, or the knight panoplied to a 
brownie with a lily for a throne, and 

" jolly satyrs, full of fresh delight, 



Come dancing forth, and with them nimbly ledd 
Faire Helenore, with girlonds all bespredd, 
Whom their May-lady they had newly made ; " 

to give place again, as the golden meshes weave, to 
cowled monks or ladies, fair, as suits the whim of the 
artist's patron. Again, the goblins of the range begin 
their game of nine-pins, and the fleecy clouds that have 
been slowly drifting, drifting all the day, settle down 
upon the mountain top and change from w r hite to gray 
and from gray to black as the sport grows furious. 
Something these elves must have to light up their 
frolic, and presently it comes in great flashes of wicked 
steel-blue and red, zigzaging down the mountain side, 
or in straight blinding bolts that rive paths in the hard 
granite, scattering the loose rock and shivering the 
pines, while the noise of the jolly nine-pins rattles and 
re-echoes among the crags, and dies away to come again 
more quickly, until the mountain top is a sheet of lurid 
flame and the din unceasing, so closely follows peal 
upon peal. The game is too violent to last, but the 
gnomes love to hug the range in their pastime, and 
I, understanding the signs, and having no fear of their 
electric lights, w r atch the fast growing rift of azure that 
crowds hard upon the driving blackness. At last the 
mellow rays touch up my mountain ruins, and they 



140 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

are arrayed in new splendors and peopled with other 
phantoms. 

So I have dreamed, and might go on dreaming, but this 
time I am brought back to the green slope and a little 
figure. The Governor is toiling up the trail with a quart 
bucket, his special chattel, from the spring, whence he 
volunteered to bring a drink for his mother. I can see 
no impediment in his path, yet he stumbles and falls. 
Would I had been there to warn him ; but the water is 
spilled. He does not cry, but gathers himself and his 
property up, and goes back to begin his task over again. 
Just then there came to me pat, an aphorism, I think, 
of " Poor Goldsmith" : "True greatness consists not 
in never falling, but in rising every time we fall ; " and 
I took it as an omen of good for the boy. 

The time is approaching when we must break camp 
and so back to the brick and mortar and the realities 
of civilization. Duties to be performed will be under- 
taken with better zest when I get to them, but I cast 
lingering looks toward my mountain ruins as the day 
of departure draws nigh. I even have a thought that 
it would be pleasant to relapse into barbarism, if out of 
such as mine our civilization has grown — we might 
build up a better. As this may not be, I am encour- 
aged by the thought that another season will come, and 
with hope in my heart I am better prepared for the 
work awaiting me. I know that I shall go back with 
a fresher feeling for my kind, and more charity. So 
when one September morning, after a day of gray mist 



THE L TJRE. 141 

hanging oyer the range, the wind comes down chill 
from the heights, and the morning sun lights up my 
castles and pinnacles in diadems of new-fallen snow, 
I say we must be off. We gather together our lares of 
nomadic life, and with a regretful farewell to those I 
cannot bring away, we make the journey home, a better 
man and woman, with a nut-brown, healthy boy, for 
much of which I give credit to the artificial fly, and 
the beautiful denizens of the mountain streams. 



FLY FISHING UN" THE YOSEMITE. 

BY 
A. LOUIS MINER, JR. 



A merry party had come for a holiday to the Yosem- 
ite, and their camp was established between the north 
and south domes near the forks of the Merced. To- 
ward the east the Tenajo Canon opened, revealing 
through its vista of granite crags the highest peak of 
"Clouds' Rest," crowned with eternal snows. West- 
ward, the Sentinel Kock, like a minaret among the 
domes, pierced the sky. 

There were seven in the party, including a heathen 
from the flowery kingdom, almond-eyed — Ah Yang. 
His nominal function was to do as he was bid, and serve 
as man of all work, but in reality he ruled ; and ruled 
with a rod of iron. Yang had been induced to come 
by motives purely sordid ; but the others, aside from 
seeing the wondrous valley, had various reasons for 
making the journey. 

The Judge came for relaxation. He needed it. For 
the last dozen years he had devoted himself to reading 
the morning papers, lunching at his club, and enter- 
taining his friends sumptuously at dinner. 

His wife, who, in the levelling atmosphere of camp, 



144 FISHING WITH THE FIT. 

came to be styled the Judgess, imagined herself on the 
verge of a decline, and sought recuperation in the 
forest. If the Judgess were described as fat and forty, 
omitting the fair, the description would fall far short 
of truth. In spite of her ailments, the Judgess would 
have enjoyed herself in a way, had it not been for the 
young woman she was chaperoning. This was Madge. 
Certain young men in San Francisco called her a rattler, 
and certainly there was nothing slow about her. The 
chief end of her existence, at home and everywhere, 
seemed to be the pursuit of fun ; to this end she flirted 
with anything that came in her way, from stray herds- 
men on the plains to an English baronet at a Yosemite 
hotel. When nothing else was at hand, and to the 
Judgess' indignation, she flirted with the Judge. "With 
charming zest she played continued games of poker 
with him till his honor's purse was far thinner than its 
owner. The Judge's admiration for Madge was pro- 
found, but after an hour at cards, he would usually re- 
mark, "that girl has the devil in her, as it ivere, bigger 
than a wolf." 

It is said that all men have a ruling passion. Be that 
as it may, a passion certainly ruled a worthy clergyman 
of the company. The men of our generation affected 
with beetle mania are many, but his Reverence was 
absolutely devoted to bugs. The Judgess, a zealot to 
such a degree that Mary of England was but lukewarm 
in comparison, said that his Reverence valued a butter- 
fly more than a human soul ; and Madge insisted that, 



FLY FISHING IN THE TO SEMITE. 145 

while he pretended to read his office, he was engaged 
in dissecting a coleoptera or something. 

The Doctor, who was Madge's unworthy brother, 
had come with the avowed intention of sketching. All 
the long way from San Francisco he had been at work 
with brushes and blotting paper. Often the " prairie 
schooner," in which the party travelled, had "lain to" 
while the Doctor washed in patches of blue and white 
to represent cloud-effects, or a jagged gray band against 
streaks of orange, portraying sunrise in the Sierras. 

The last member of the party without professional 
distinction, and familiarly called "Jack," had also a 
penchant, though many years had passed since it had 
been gratified. When they had left the San Joaquin 
plain and its sluggish rivers oozing their way through 
mud and reeds, and had climbed into the mountain, a 
halt was made in a deep canon. Here was a stream in- 
deed. How blithely it danced along, eager to find the 
Golden Gate and the Pacific ! How it sang to Jack of 
fellow streams near the other ocean ! How it whispered 
of trout streams ahead ! Presently a long-cherished fly 
book was produced and Jack was poring over it. His 
Reverence, attracted by the little volume, looked over 
Jack's shoulder. He was entranced. A volume of ec- 
clesiastical Latin would not have interested him half 
so much. He began to criticise and expound. Some 
were perfect. Some were caricatures of diptera. The 
other members of the party drew around. " Pooh ! " 
said the Doctor, " I hope you don't expect to catch any 



146 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

trout with those things in Yosemite ! Everybody knows 
that the Merced tront don't take the fly." The Doctor 
went on to say, " that with a common string, such as 
any grocer would use to tie up a package of tea, a good 
strong hook, and a worm," he would catch in the same 
time, more fish than could all the sportsmen of Califor- 
nia, fishing with fancy flies. 

The Doctor, like most cynics, was somewhat giyen to 
hyperbole. 

During the remainder of the journey into the valley, 
Jack felt himself regarded as the victim of a mild halu- 
cination. 

The Doctor could sketch ; beetles were awaiting his 
Beverence's microscope ; flirtation and frolic were dawn- 
ing on Madge's horizon ; even the Judge and Judgess 
could get rid of a stone or two avoirdupois if they tried ; 
but poor Jack had come, it appeared, to fish, and there 
were no fish to catch, or at least to catch with a fly. 
Such was the tradition, and so the Doctor had asserted, 
and no one ever disputed the Doctor excepting Yang, 
the Chinaman. 

Our friends had been revelling in the enchantments 
of the valley a week ; had climbed the trails that crept 
zig-zag up the dizzy heights ; had spent hours among 
the soft mist and rainbows at the first landing of that 
wonder of the world, the Yosemite Falls ; and still Jack 
had not accomplished the cherished desire of his heart. 
He had not the moral courage to take from its swad- 
dling clothes his beloved rod (which the Doctor would 



FLY FISHING IN THE TOSEMITE. 147 

persist in calling "your fish-pole"). Never had he so 
longed to cast a fly ; but he thought, of the teasing 
Madge and waited. At best, he was but a poor male 
creature. Madge, in his place, would have been whip- 
ping the stream, with defiance and determination, an 
hour after her arrival. 

His Reverence and the Doctor had arranged to ascend 
Clouds' Rest on a Thursday and return next day. 
Early Thursday morning, before Yang or the birds 
were stirring, Jack sauntered forth to his morning bath 
in the icy waters of the river. This Rio. de la Merced, 
would it prove to him indeed a river of mercy, or a 
river of humiliation? But what a glorious stream it 
was ! Here it glided through wooded banks, the oppo- 
site side black in the shadow of overhanging manzanita, 
while nearer the rippling waters were checkered with 
the shadows of the cotton-wood leaves, trembling in 
the growing light. Further on, the river whirled and 
eddied around great boulders, resting among the mossy 
rocks in deep, dark pools, bordered with fern and 
flecked with patches of lace-like foam. Further still, 
it wound silently through the sedges, reflecting on its 
glassy surface the stormed-carved Cathedral Rocks, or 
the huge mass of El Capitan. Here was an ideal trout 
stream, but were there trout in it ! No doubt, for the 
Doctor had taken his grocers' string and a worm and a 
veritable pole, and after a day's tramp had returned to 
camp wet, hungry, in a sulphurous mood, but with 
four unmistakable trout. These, served up the next 



148 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

morning, were appropriated by the Judgess, and made 
an excellent appetizer to more abundant bacon and 
flap- jacks. 

Jack had reached that pearl of waters, the Mirror 
Lake, and was watching the marvellous beauties pict- 
ured on its bosom, when suddenly there was a soft 
plash, the sleeping depths were troubled, a circling 
ripple crept toward him, and Jack's pulses bounded. 
A trout had risen ! 

Through the dewy chaparral and the fragrant whis- 
pering pines, our friend hurried back to camp in a 
fever of impatience. He tried to help Yang with 
breakfast, but was told by that dignitary to " giv' us a 
rest," and so humbly retired. He then waked his 
Eeverence. He wakened the Doctor and was greeted by 
language far from complimentary. He aroused the 
Judgess, and was pierced with daggers from her eyes 
while she hurriedly adjusted her teeth. 

After breakfast more torturing delays, the Judgess 
declined to join the mountain party. The others must 
not think that she feared to ride the mules, for she 
adored mountain climbing, and the exercise and all 
that. (This was a dreadful fib, which was probably 
made use of at her next confession.) Both the Judge 
and herself were pining for a few refinements of life 
at the hotel. Without napkins and finger-bowls, life 
became a burden. The poor Judge had to acquiesce 
and said : "She wants a little civilization as it ivere." 
Then Jack rebelled. There was a general confusion, 



FLY FISHING IN TEE Y0SE3IITE. 149 

in the midst of which Yang began to fire his pistol. 
This pistol was the idol of his pagan soul, and his fre- 
quent salutes the terror of the party. No one dared to 
interfere. At this time the volley was continued and 
promiscuous. The Judgess screamed, and having no 
immediate revenge in the shape of ill-cooked dinners 
to fear, sharply expostulated. Thereupon Yang, with 
utmost sangfroid, told her to " shut your head "' and 
journey to regions he had probably heard the Doctor 
name. This was too much. The Judgess climbed 
into the wagon and stated her opinion of people who 
permitted such " goings on " and of a priest who 
allowed a Christian woman to be sworn at. Madge was 
convulsed with laughter, even his Reverence smiled, 
while the Judge, poor man, looking as if every brewery 
on the continent had been burned, snapped his whip, 
and the wagon was lost to sight beneath the arching 
sequoias. 

It was high noon when the sure-footed mules had 
arrived and the party fairly started off. Jack waved an 
adieu with one hand, and with the other reached down 
his rod from the branches of a live oak. Yang pro- 
ceeded to dissect a sucker he had caught for bait, say- 
ing : " If you fishee, me fishee too, but you no sabee 
nothing." 

Later in the afternoon Jack stood on the grassy 
point where the lake narrows into the river. He had 
adjusted his flies, and everything was in readiness. He 
paused to watch Yang, who was stationed below on the 



150 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

river, fasten a cubic inch of sucker to his hook, ex- 
pectorate upon it, turn around three times, and fling 
it with a tremendous splash into the water. Whether 
these performances were the result of Oriental suj^ersti- 
tion, or whether the Chinaman imitated some Ameri- 
can example, he did not stop to consider. His long 
unpractised hand, trembling a little now, had sent the 
flies far out beneath the shadows of some willows. 
Another cast was made, and then another. At the 
fourth there was a rise, and the fish was hooked. The 
struggle was short but spirited. Yang, abandoning his 
primitive tackle, was ready with the landing-net, and 
the fish was killed. As the sport continued, Jack 
grew calmer, while Yang's excitement increased. He 
trembled as if the ague were upon him. His stoicism 
was laid aside. He laughed, jabbered, and Jack w r as 
obliged to address him as the Chinaman had addressed 
the Judgess. Yaxig begged to try the rod, and by rea- 
son of his imitative faculties might have made good 
use of it, but he had to content himself with the net. 
At last the lengthening shadows deepened into twi- 
light, and the gathering darkness put. an end to the 
sport. The great dome of Mt. Watkins, inverted in the 
motionless water, had changed from gold to crimson, 
and from crimson to violet ; they paid no heed until 
the reflection faded, then, looking up, the real moun- 
tain, circled by rising mists, seemed to float in the 
darkening sky, and Jack, with that feeling of perfect 
content and peace which kings can never know unless 



FLY FISHING IN THE YOSEMITE. 151 

they are anglers, stowed away his flies, un jointed his 
rod, while Yang shouldered the catch. 

It was a happy couple that went down the Tenajo 
canon that evening. The moon smiled upon them ; an 
owl hooted enviously ; Jack softly whistled a strain from 
Schubert, while Yang made the towering rocks echo 
and re-echo to the joyous banging of the pistol. 

The fish were dressed, supper eaten, Yang's tin 
dishes washed, and everything was snug for the night. 
Jack, stretched beneath a giant pine and smoking his 
evening pipe, was watching the weird play of the fire- 
light in the canopy of foliage above. The Celestial ap- 
peared. 

" Me heap lonesome, got no more cartridges ; you no 
care ; go down hotel stay Chinaboy to-night." 

Unselfish, devoted, and charitable as Yang claimed 
to be, he could hardly pretend to heroism. The China- 
man was permitted to go, and Jack, appropriating the 
Judgess' hammock, turned in. This hammock owed 
Jack a lodging. All the way across the plains, and up 
the mountains, and in the valley, that hammock had 
almost nightly .collapsed. Perhaps the Judge did not 
know how to tie a knot ; perhaps the ample physique 
of the Judgess was too much for any knot, but the 
thing kept occurring, to the great discomfiture of the 
Judgess and all the rest of the party. As Jack, with 
his feet at the fire, and his head on a sack of barley, lay 
studying the midnight heavens, there would come a 
shock as of an earthquake. The Judge was a little deaf 



152 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

and after a night or two of experience, would lie just 
beyond reach of whatever member his better half could 
disentangle with which to punch him. First, his Kev- 
erence would be summoned ; but he slept the sleep of 
the just. Then cries for Ah Yang and the others would 
follow. Yang was too wise a Chinaman to awaken. 
Jack sometimes rolled over and kicked the Doctor till 
he roused, and the good lady hearing his exclamations, 
claimed his assistance ; but sometimes Jack also shed 
his blankets and relieved the massive limbs from a state 
of suspension. 

With content Jack rolled himself in the hammock. 
Never had he slept in such profound solitude. The 
nearest camp was far away down the valley ; and to- 
wards the east, beyond the mountain-barrier, nothing 
but the wild desert, and solitary, sage-clad hills of 
Nevada. 

The river murmured over the pebbles, the pines 
faintly whispered, and that was all. For once he Avas 
alone, and oh ! the peace of it ! Was it such a night as 
this that tempted men to leave their fellows for a her- 
mitage ? Such visions came to him as seldom visit men 
beneath a roof. At last he slept, and dreamed of the 
first trout he had killed in a little New England 
meadow-brook. He was filling a creel with bass from a 
fair Wisconsin lake. He was in a plunger off Montauk 
Point, striking the blue-fish. He was trolling for pike 
through Champlain, and casting a fly from a canoe on 
Adirondack waters. 



FLY FISHING IN THE YOSEMITE. 153 

The South Dome was glowing in the ruddy morning 
light ; a nock of blackbirds were piping cheerily ; an 
odor of fried trout and coffee was in the air, and Yang 
was tugging at the blankets, and saying : 

" Come, you heap laze, bleakfast all leddy. Git up! " 

jjc *i» m* »j* *$* *j* *j* *i* *s* 

What a dinner Yang and Jack had in readiness for 
the party that night ! The Judge and spouse, after 
much pressing, had come. The lady could not with- 
stand the trout, especially on a Friday. The judicial 
pair arrived just as Madge and his Eeverence raced into 
camp on the sturdy mules. The Doctor and guide fol- 
lowed. Madge's cheeks were glowing, her eyes spark- 
ling, and her tongue rattling, as she leaped from her 
saddle. " Such a time as they had had ! His Eeverence 
had been a duck, and the Doctor for once had behaved 
himself and kept civil." She gave her hand to the 
Judgess, but kissed the Judge. 

At Yang's summons, a jovial company sat down to 
such a table as campers in the Sierras seldom see. 
Madge was in ecstacies, and even the Judgess expressed 
approval. There was real damask upon it, with naj)- 
kins and silver forks and wine from the hotel, with all 
sorts of garnitures of Yang's contrivance. 

The dinner began, continued, and ended with fish ; 
but fish cooked in every way which Oriental imagination 
could devise, and camp facilities permit. Even "Simp- 
son's Fish Dinner," of seven courses, in Billingsgate, 
could not surpass it. The Judgess, having disposed of 



154 - FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

about a dozen fish, remarked that, after all, these were 
only California trout, and entirely lacked the flavor, as 
they lacked the beauty, of their Eastern cousins. She 
thought, however, that Yang's salad — of cresses from 
the Merced — was not bad ; but wine — even if it was 
champagne — when sipped from a tin cup, left much to 
be desired. Alas ! Jack had forgotten to borrow the 
glasses. 

All that evening, around the camp-fire, the party lis- 
tened to an account of the catch. The Doctor did not 
hesitate to express his entire disbelief in the story. It 
was his opinion that Jack had hired the Indians to fish 
for him, and bribed Yang to hold his tongue. Then 
Yang spoke : 

" You think you heap smart. Jack heap sabee how 
fish, and you no sabee, but me sabee you. Last Friday 
you go fish, and when me water horse, see Injun sellee 
you fish. I sabee you." 

In the peals of laughter which followed, the Doctor 
went away to his blankets muttering. So the trout the 
Judgess had enjoyed a week before were not the Doc- 
tor's catching, after all. 

A week longer the party lingered in the valley. 
Madge and his Reverence became quite expert with the 
fly. The lake seemed to have yielded all its finny 
treasures to Jack, but the Merced afforded ample sport. 
Many strings of trout were sent to fellow-campers, and 
to friends at the hotel ; and one little hamper made 
the long journey by stage and rail to San Francisco. 



FLY FISHING IN THE YO SEMITE. 155 

The " trout-camp " became famous in the valley, and 
paragraphs noticing the catch appeared in the Stockton 
Independent, and even in the Sacramento Bee. Jack 
had accomplished his purpose, and had not come to 
the Yosemite in vain. 

Then the prairie schooner sailed away through the 
mountains, Madge and his Beverence driving by turns, 
while the Judge held his ponderous foot on the brake. 
Yang was mounted on a mustang, while the doctor 
and Jack trudged through the dust. Frequent halts 
were made, the Judgess taking her noon-day siesta, 
the "three fishers," as she called Madge, his Eever- 
ence and Jack, striking out for some neighboring 
stream. Near the Tuolumne big trees his Eeverence 
took the largest trout of the trip — a four-pounder. On 
the Tuolumne Eiver the three met with fair success ; 
but on the upper waters of the Stanislaus the sport 
was better. They tarried by the stream winding 
through that dead little mining town, Big Oak Flat. 
The banks of the little river were honey-combed by 
the old placer mining. The population of the Flat 
wondered to see Madge cast a fly. Even the China- 
men who were still washing for gold, would throw 
aside their cradles and pans to gaze. 

An ancient beau of the town stranded there fifteen 
years ago (such a man as Bret Harte would have glo- 
ried in), became so enamored with the fair angler that 
he would have followed in her wake ; but the fickle 
object of his admiration eluded her admirer, and the 



J 56 FISHING WITH THE FL Y. 

miner sadly headed his mustang toward his mountain 
home, promising to call "next time he went to 'Frisco." 

The schooner dropped anchor in Oakland. The 
Judge asked all to dine with him that day week — "a 
sort of a re-union, as it were, you know." His Rever- 
ence hastened to don something more in keeping with 
his cloth than a blue shirt ; Madge threw a kiss to 
Jack as the Doctor handed her into a carriage ; and 
Jack was left to cross the ferry alone. Yang, however, 
had not abandoned him. He produced a piece of red 
paper and asked Jack to write his address upon it. 

"I hab one fliend who come get your washee Mon- 
day." 

Jack, inured to submission, could not refuse, and 
Yang's "fliend" still does his "washee." 

Since the Yosemite excursion Jack has trailed salmon 
flies on the noble Columbia River, and whipped the 
California trout streams from the cactus-covered plains 
of the Mexican border to the glaciers of Mount Shasta, 
but he has never had such keen enjoyment with the 
fly as on that afternoon at Mirror Lake. 

When he arranges his tackle for a little holiday sport 
on the Russian River, or the streams among the red 
woods of Santa Cruz, he sees again the reflected fir-trees 
and granite dome trembling in the water as the trout 
leap to his fly; he again hears Yang's ejaculations and 
commands. "Fifty-sleven, Jack. Hi ! that big fish ; 
fifty-eight. You heap sabee. Hold him tight. 'Rusa- 
1cm, him sabee how swim ! Pull like hella, fifty-nine ! " 



Ajsa. TROUT FLIES. 




Made by C.F.ORVIS. Manchester, Vt 



CO PYR IGHTED. 



"Trout take some flies because they resemble the real fiy on 
which they feed. They take other flies for no such reason." — W. 
C. Prime. 

" The oft-repeated quotation, ' Spare the rod and spoil the 
child,' has been misconstrued for many a long day, and if I had 
known early in life its real significance it would hardly have made 
so doleful an impression. There is nc doubt to-day in my mind 
that this 'rod' meant a fishing-rod, rvl t Vie timely cherishing of 
it in youth tends to develop th. v portion of one's nature to 
which the former use was entirely innocent."- — Thomas Sedgwick 
Steele. 

" My favorite fly of all is a snipe feather and mouse body." — 
" Frank Forester." 

31. Cinnamon. 32. Deerfly. 33. Red Fox. 

34. Camlet Dun. 35. Governor. 36. Green Drake. 

37. Alder. 38. Cheney. 39. Soldier. 

40. Hod. 41. Kingdom. 42. Oak Fly. 

43. Gray Coflin. 44. Fire Fly. 45. Beaverkill. 

46. Yeliow May. 47. Black Jun .. 48. Quaker. 

" Often the whereabouts of a tret is betrayed by a break or a 
leap from the surface, and the wide-awake angler will make it his 
business to toss his fly over the spot sooner or later. Sometimes 
the trout rush at the lure like a flash, leaping clear over it in their 
eagerness. They are difficult to hook then." — Charles Hallock. 

" No description of the brook trout, that has ever been given, 
does him justice. It stands unrivalled as a game fish." — Theoda- 
tus Oarlick. M. D. 

11 The best flies to use are imitations of those which are born on 
the water; for, though trout will often take land flies, and indeed 
almost any insect you can throw on the water, yet it is on the 
water-flies which he chiefly depends for his sustenance." — Francis 
Francis. 



" A trout does not always get the fly when he attempts to; it 
may be lying against the leader, making it impossible for him to 
get it in his mouth ; you may strike too quickly, taking it out of 
reach; the strike maybe too hard, tearing his mouth. More trout 
by far are pricked than hooked. Practice only can teach you 
when to strike; you see a faint gleam under the surface, when 
you instinctively twitch, to find you have hooked a beauty. Few 
fishermen can separate force from quickness of motion. Never 
use your arm in making the strike, only your wrist ; then will the 
difficulty be overcome."— T. S. Up de Graff, M.B. 

"Innocent stranger! Thou who readest these lines! perhaps 
you never caught a trout. If so, thou knowest not for what life 
was originally intended. Thou art a vain, insignificant mortal ! 
pursuing shadows ! Ambition lures thee, fame dazzles, wealth 
leads thee on, pantingj Thou art chasing spectres, goblins that 
satisfy not. If thou hast not caught a trout, this world is to thee, 
as yet, a blank, existence is a dream. Go and weep." — TJiaddeus 
Norris. 

"On one occasion the writer was awakened at a very early 
hour, when, lo! Mr. Webster, who happened to be in a par- 
ticularly playful mood, was seen going through the graceful mo- 
tions of an angler throwing a fly and striking a trout, and then, 
without a word, disappeared. As a matter of course, that day 
was given to fishing." — Lanman's Life of Webster. 



HOW TO CAST A FLY. 



BY 
SETH GREEN. 



I am asked a great "many times what is the secret of 
fly-casting ? There are three principles. First, quick 
out of the water ; second, give the line time to straighten 
behind you; third, throw. I will explain these prin- 
ciples more definitely. 

Eaise your rod straight up, or nearly so, the inclina- 
tion being backward ; then make a quick stroke for- 
ward. When you take the line from the water it 
should be done with a quick jerk; then give your line 
time to straighten behind ; then give it the same stroke 
forward that you did to get it out of the water. 

Why so many fail in fly-casting is, they throw the 
rod backward too near the ground behind them, and 
when they make the forward stroke, and the line gets 
straightened out, it is some distance above the water 
and kinks back, so that when it falls upon the water 
it lies crooked, and is some distance short of what it 
would have been if it had struck the water as soon as 
it was straightened out. 

If a fish should strike at your flies at this time you 
are pretty sure to miss him. By never throwing your 



160 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

rod back more than to a slight angle from the perpendic- 
ular, and making the stroke forward., your line goes 
straight out and the flies go to the point you desire. 

Great care should be taken when you have thrown 
the line behind you, that the line is given time to 
straighten before making the stroke forward. I have 
thrown seventy feet of line against a strong wind, first, 
by giving my rod a quick, strong back stroke, carrying 
my rod but slightly back of the perpendicular, and 
giving my line time to straighten behind me, then 
making the same stroke forward that I did to get it 
back of me. 

I nearly forgot to mention that it is more important 
to have your line fit your rod than it is to have your 
coat fit your back. 

You may think it strange that I should tell you three 
or four times over in the same article, that in order to 
do good fly-casting you must throw your rod back only 
just so far, and then wait for your line to straighten 
behind you ; and when your line is straight, to make a 
quick stroke forward, without carrying your rod for- 
ward, even a little, before delivering your line, but 
these movements are the essential principles in fly- 
casting. By observing them one may hope to be- 
come a skilful fly-caster. 



TROUT : 

MEETING THEM ON THE " JUNE JZISE." 

BY 

" NESSMUK." 



There is a spot where plumy pines 
O'erhang the sylvan banks of Otter ; 

Where wood -ducks build among the vines 
That bend above the crystal water. 

And there the blue-jay makes her nest, 

In thickest shade of water beeches ; 
The fish-hawk, statuesque in rest, 

Keeps guard o'er glassy pools and reaches. 

'Tis there the deer come down to drink, 
From laurel brakes and wooded ridges ; 

The trout, beneath the sedgy brink, 
Are sharp on ship-wrecked flies and midges. 

And of the scores of mountain trout-streams that I 
have fished, the Otter is associated with the most pleas- 
ing memories. 

It is, or was, a model trout-stream ; a thing to dream 
of. Haying its rise within three miles of the village, 
11 



162 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

it meandered southward for ten miles through a moun- 
tain yalley to its confluence with the second fork of 
Pine Creek, six miles of the distance being through a 
forest without settler or clearing. 

The stream was swift, stony, and exceptionally free 
of brush, fallen timber and the usual debris that is so 
trying to the angler on most wooded streams. Then, 
it was just the right distance from town. It was so 
handy to start from the village in the middle of an 
afternoon in early summer, walk an hour and a half at 
a leisurely pace, and find one's self on a brawling brook 
where speckled trout were plenty as a reasonable man 
could wish. 

Fishing only the most promising places for a couple 
of miles always gave trout enough for supper and 
breakfast, and brought the angler to the " Trout- 
House," as a modest cottage of squared logs was called, 
it being the last house in the clearings and owned by 
good-natured Charley Davis, who never refused to en- 
tertain fishermen with the best his little house afforded. 
His accommodations were of the narrowest, but also of 
the neatest, and few women could fry trout so nicely 
as Mrs. Davis. True, there was only one spare bed, 
and, if more than two anglers desired lodgings, they 
were relegated to the barn, with a supply of buffalo 
skins and blankets. On a soft bed of sweet hay this 
was all that could be desired by way of lodgings, with 
the advantage of being free from mosquitoes and 
punkies. The best of rich, yellow butter with good 



MEETING TROUT ON THE "JUNE RISE." 1G3 

bread were always to be bad at Charley's, and his 
charges were 12^- cents for meals, and the same for 
lodging. 

The two miles of fishing above the "Trout-House" 
led through clearings, and the banks were much over- 
grown with willows, making it expedient to use bait, 
or a single fly. I chose the latter : my favorite bug for 
such fishing being the red hackle, though I am obliged 
to confess that the fellow who used a white grub gener- 
ally beat me. 

But the evening episode was only preliminary ; it 
meant a pleasant walk, thirty or forty brook-trout for 
supper and breakfast, and a quiet night's rest. The real 
angling commenced the next morning at the bridge, 
with a six-mile stretch of clear, cold, rushing water to 
fish. My old-fashioned creel held an honest twelve 
pounds of dressed trout, and I do not recollect that I 
ever missed filling it, with time to spare, on that 
stretch of water. Nor, though I could sometimes fill 
it in a forenoon, did I ever continue to fish after it was 
full. Twelve pounds of trout is enough for any but a 
trout-hog. 

But the peculiar phase of trout lore that most inter- 
ested me, was the " run " of trout that were sure to 
find their way up stream whenever we had a flood late 
in May or the first half of June. They were distinct 
and different from the trout that came up with the 
early spring freshets. Lighter in color, deeper in body, 
with smaller heads, and better conditioned altogether. 



164 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

They could be distinguished at a glance ; the individ- 
uals of any school were as like as j)eas in color and size, 
and we neyer saw them except on a summer flood. 
The natives called them river trout. They came in 
schools of one hundred to five times as many, just as 
the flood was subsiding, and they had a way of halting 
to rest at the deep pools and spring-holes along their 
route. Lucky was the angler who could find them at 
rest in a deep pool, under a scooped out bank, or at the 
foot of a rushing cascade. At such times they seemed 
to lose their usual shyness, and would take the fly or 
worm indifferently, until their numbers were reduced 
more than one-half. To "meet them on the June 
rise " was the ardent desire of every angler who fished 
the streams which they were accustomed to ascend. 
These streams were not numerous. The First, Second, 
and Third Forks of Pine Creek, with the Otter, com- 
prised the list so far as I know. And no man could be 
certain of striking a school at any time ; it depended 
somewhat on judgment, but more on luck. Two or 
three times I tried it on the Otter and missed ; while a 
friend who had the pluck and muscle to make a ten-mile 
tramp over the mountain to Second Fork took forty 
pounds of fine trout from a single school. It was a hog- 
gish thing to do ; but he was a native and knew no 
reason for letting up. 

At length my white day came around. There was a 
fierce rain for three days, and the raging waters took 
mills, fences and lumber down stream in a way to be 



MEETING TROUT ON THE "JUNE RISE." 165 

remembered. Luckily it also took the lumbermen the 
same way, and left few native anglers at home. "When 
the waters had subsided to a fair volume, and the streams 
had still a suspicion of milkiness, I started at 3 p. M. 
of a lovely June afternoon for the Trout-House. An 
easy two hours walk, an hour of delightful angling, 
and I reached the little hostelry with three dozen brook 
trout, averaging about seven inches in length only, but 
fresh and sweet, all caught on a single red hackle, 
which will probably remain my favorite bug until I go 
over the last carry (though I notice it has gone well 
out of fashion with modern anglers). 

A supper of trout ; an evening such as must be seen 
and felt to be appreciated ; trout again for breakfast, 
with a dozen packed for lunch, and I struck in at the 
bridge before sunrise for an all day bout, "to meet 'em 
on the June rise." I didn't do it. I took the entire 
day to whip that six miles of bright, dashing water. I 
filled a twelve-pound creel with trout, putting back 
everything under eight inches. I put back more than 
I kept. I had one of the most enjoyable days of my 
life ; I came out at the lower bridge after sundown — 
and I had not seen or caught one fresh-run river trout. 
They were all the slender, large-mouthed, dark-mottled 
fish of the gloomy forest, with crimson spots like fresh 
drops of blood. But I was not discouraged. Had the 
trout been there I should have met them. I walked 
half a mile to the little inn at Babb's, selected a dozen 
of my best fish for supper and breakfast, gave away the 



166 FISHING WITH THE FL Y. 

rest, and, tired as a hound, slept the sleep of the just 
man. 

At 4 o'clock the next morning I was on the stream 
again, feeling my way carefully down, catching a trout 
at every cast, and putting them mostly back with care, 
that they might live ; but for an hour no sign of a 
fresh-run river trout. 

Below the bridge there is a meadow, the oldest 
clearing on the creek ; there are trees scattered about 
this meadow that are models of arborial beauty, black 
walnut, elm, ash, birch, hickory, maple, etc. Most of 
them grand, spreading trees. One of them, a large, 
umbrageous yellow-birch, stood on the left bank of the 
stream, and was already in danger of a fall by 

"The swifter current that mined its roots." 

It was here I met them on the June rise. 

I dropped my cast of two flies just above the roots of 
the birch, and on the instant, two fresh-run, silver- 
sided, red-spotted trout immolated themselves, with a 
generous self-abnegation that I shall never forget. 

Standing there on that glorious June morning, I 
made cast after cast, taking, usually, two at each cast. 
I made no boyish show of "playing" them. They 
were lifted out as soon as struck. To have fooled with 
them would have tangled me, and very likely have scat- 
tered the school. 

It was old-time angling ; I shall not see it again. 

My cast was a red hackle for tail-fly, with something 



MEETING TROUT ON THE " JUNE RISE." 167 

like the brown hen for hand-fly. I only used two, with 
four-foot leader ; and I was about the only angler who 
used a fly at all in those days, on these waters. 

I fished about one hour. I caught sixty -four trout, 
weighing thirteen and three quarter pounds. I caught 
too many. I was obliged to string some of them, as 
the creel would not hold them all. But my head w r as 
moderately level. When I had caught as many as I 
thought right I held up ; and I said, if any of these 
natives get on to this school, they will take the last 
trout, if it be a hundred pounds. And they will salt 
them down. So when I was done, and the fishing was 
good as at the start, I cut a long "staddle," with a 
bush at the top, and I just went for that school of 
trout. I chevied, harried and scattered them, up stream 
and down, until I could not see a fish. Then I packed 
my duffle and went to the little inn for breakfast. Of 
course every male biped was anxious to know " wdiere I 
met 'em." I told them truly ; and they started, man 
and boy, for the " Big Birch," with beech rods, stiff 
linen lines," and a full stock of white grubs. 

I was credibly informed afterward, that these back- 
woods cherubs did not succeed in " Meeting 'em on the 
June rise." I have a word to add, which is not impor- 
tant though it may be novel. 

There is a roaring, impetuous brook emptying into 
Second Fork, called " Eock Eun." It heads in a level 
swamp, near the summit of the mountain. The swamp 
contains about forty acres, and is simply a level bed of 



168 FISHING WITH THE FLT. 

loose stones, completely overgrown with bright green 
moss. 

" Eock Run " heads in a strong, ice-cold sjn-ing, but 
is soon sunken and lost among the loose stones of the 
swamp. Just where the immense hemlocks, that make 
the swamp a sunless gloom, get their foothold, is one 
of the things I shall never find out. But, all the same, 
they are there. And ' i Rock Run " finds its way under- 
ground for 80 rods with never a ray of sunlight to il- 
lumine its course. Not once in its swamp course does 
it break out to daylight. You may follow it by its 
heavy gurgling, going by ear ; but you cannot see the 
water. Now remove the heavy coating of moss here 
and there, and you may see glimpses of dark, cold 
water, three or four feet beneath the surface. Drop a 
hook, baited with angle-worm down these dark watery 
holes, and it will be instantly taken by a dark, crim- 
son-spotted specimen of simon pure Salmo fontinalis. 
They are small, four to six inches in length, hard, 
sweet ; the beau ideal of mountain trout. Follow this 
subterranean brook for eighty rods, and you find it 
gushing over the mountain's brink in a cascade that no 
fish could or would attenrpt to ascend. Follow the 
roaring brook down to its confluence with Second Fork, 
and you will not find one trout in the course of a mile. 
The stream is simjny a succession of falls, cascades, and 
rapids, up which no fish can beat its way for one hun- 
dred yards. And yet at the head of this stream is a 
subterranean brook stocked with the finest specimens 



MEETING TROUT ON THE "JUNE MISE." 169 

of Salmo fontinalis. They did not breed on the moun- 
tain top. They cannot ascend the stream. Where did 
they originate ? When, and how did they manage 
to get there ? I leave the questions to savans and 
naturalists. As for myself, I state the fact — still 
demonstrable — for the trout are yet there. But I take 
it to be one of the conundrums " no fellah can ever 
find out." 

P. S. — A word as to bugs, lures, flies, etc. Now I 
have no criticism to offer as regards flies or lures. I 
saw a Gotham banker in 1880, making a cast on Third 
lake, with a leader that carried tivelve flies. Why not? 
He enjoyed it ; and he caught some trout. Even the 
guides laughed at him. I did not : he rode his hobby, 
and he rode it well. Fishing beside him, with a five- 
dollar rod, I caught two trout to his one. What 
did he care ? He came out to enjoy himself after 
his own fashion, and he did it. Like myself, he only 
cared for the sport — the recreation and enough trout 
for supper. (I cannot cast twelve flies.) 

Now my favorite lures — with forty years' experience 
— stand about thus. Tail fly, red hackle ; second, 
brown hen ; third, Romeyn. Or, tail fly, red ibis ; 
second, brown hackle ; third, queen of the waters. Or, 
red hackle, queen, royal coachman. Sometimes trout 
will not rise to the fly. I respect their tastes. I use then 
— tail fly, an angle worm, with a bit of clear pork for 
the head, and a white miller for second. If this fails I 



170 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

go to camp and sleep. I am not above worms and 
grubs, but prefer the fly. And I take but what I need 
for present use. Can all brother anglers say the 
same ? 



TROUT FLIES. 




63 



Made by C F.ORVIS. Manchester, Vt 






CO PYR IGHTED 



"It has so happened that all the public services that I have 
rendered in the world, in my day and generation, have been con- 
nected with the general government. I think I ought to make 
an exception. I was ten days a member of the Massachusetts 
Legislature, and I turned my thoughts to the search of some 
good object in which I could be useful in that position ; and after 
much reflection I introduced a bill which, with the consent of 
both houses of the Legislature, passed into a law, and is now a 
law of the State, which enacts that no man in the State shall 
catch trout in any manner than in the old way, with an ordinary 
hook and line." — Daniel Webster. 

" T p you do not know a river it is always most desirable to have 
someone with you who does." — Francis Francis. 



49. The Teal. 
52. No. 68. 
55. Widow. 
58. March Brown. 
61. King of the 
Water. 



50. Reuben Wood. 51. Red Spinner. 



53. Hawthorne. 
56. Grasshopper. 
59. Shoemaker. 
62. Gen. Hooker. 



54. Dorset. 
57. Stebbins. 
60. Orange Black. 
63. Gray Drake. 



"The angler atte the leest, hath his holsom walke, and mery 
at his ease, a swete ayre of the swete savoure of the mede floures, 
that makyth him hungry ; he hereth the melodyous armony of 
fowles: he seeth the yonge swannes, heerons, duckrs, cotes, and 
many other fowles, wyth theyr brodes; whyche me semyth better 
than alle the noyse of houndys, the blastes of hornys, and the 
scrye of foulis, that hunters, fawkeners, and fowlers can make. 
And if the angler take fysshe ; surely, thenne, is there noo man 
merier than he is in his spyryte." — Dame Juliana Berners. 

" Skill, and trained skill at that, does the good work, and the 
angler's score is just in proportion to his knowledge of 'how to 
doi*.'"— Wm. C. Harris. 



"A gray-haired bait-fisher is very rare, while the passion for 
fly-casting, whether for trout or salmon, grows by what it feeds 
upon, and continues a source of the highest pleasure even after 
the grasshopper becomes a burden." — George Dawson. 

" It is not the number of fish he captures that makes the angler 
contented, for the true angler can enjoy the mere casting of the 
fly if he has only an occasional fish to reward his efforts." — 
" Random Casts." 

" The great charm of fly-fishing for trout is derived from the 
fact that you then see the movements of your fish, and if you are 
not an expert hand, the chances are that you will capture but one 
out of the hundred that may rise to your hook. You can seldom 
save a trout unless you strike the very instant that he leaps. The 
swiftness with which a trout can dart from his hiding-place after 
a fly is truly astonishing ; and we never see one perform this 
operation without feeling an indescribable thrill quivering through 
our frame." — Charles Lanman. 

"There is nothing grovelling in fly-fishing — nothing gross or 
demoralizing. " — Charles Hallock. 

"Angling is a maist innocent, poetical, moral and religious 
amusement. Gin I saw a fisher gruppin creelfu' after creelfu' o' 
trouts, and then flingin' them a' awa among the heather and the 
brackens on his way hame, I micht begin to suspec that the 
idiot was by nature rather a savage. But as for me, I send 
presents to my freens, and devour dizzens on dizzens every week 
in the family— maistly dune in the pan, wi' plenty o' fresh butter 
and roun' meal— sae that prevents the possibility o' cruelty in 
my fishin', and in the fishin' o* a' reasonable creatures."— James 
Hogg. 



"WHY PETER WENT A-FISHING." 

BY 

W. C. PRIME. 

Never was night more pure, never was sea more 
winning ; never were the hearts of men moved by 
deeper emotions than on that night and by that sea 
when Peter and John, and other of the disciples, were 
waiting for the Master. 

Peter said, "I go a-fishing." John and Thomas, 
and James and Nathanael, and the others, said, "We 
will go with yon," and they went. 

Some commentators have supposed and taught that, 
when Peter said, " I go a-fishing/' he announced the 
intention of returning to the ways in which he had 
earned his daily bread from childhood ; that his Master 
was gone, and he thought that nothing remained for 
him but the old, hard life of toil, and the sad labor of 
living. 

But this seems scarcely credible, or consistent with 
the circumstances. The sorrow which had weighed 
down the disciples when gathered in Jerusalem on that 
darkest Sabbath day of all the Hebrew story, had given 
way to joy and exultation in the morning when the 
empty tomb revealed the hitherto hidden glory of the 



174 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

resurrection, joy which was ten-fold increased by arc 
interview with the risen Lord, and confirmed by his 
direction, sending them into Galilee to await Him there. 
And thus it seems incredible that Peter and John — 
John, the beloved — could have been in any such gloom 
and despondency as to think of resuming their old em- 
ployment at this time, when they w T ere actually waiting 
for His coming, who had promised to meet them. 

Probably they were on this particular evening weary 
with earnest expectancy, yet not satisfied ; tired of 
waiting and longing, and looking up the hillside on the 
Jerusalem road for His appearance ; and I have no 
doubt that, when this weariness became exhausting, 
Peter sought on the water something of the old excite- 
ment that he had known from boyhood, and that to all 
the group it seemed a fitting way in which to pass the 
long night before them, otherwise to be weary as well 
as sleepless. 

If one could have the story of that night of fishing, 

of the surrounding scenes, the conversation in the 

boat, the unspoken thoughts of the fishermen, it would 

make the grandest story of fishing that the world has 

ever known. Its end was grand when in the morning 

the voice of the Master came over the sea, asking them 

the familiar question, in substance the same which they, 

like all fishermen, had heard a thousand times, " Have 

you any fish ?" 

****** 

The memory of this scene is not unfitting to the 



WHY PETER WENT A-FISHING. 175 

modern angler. Was it possible to forget it when I 
first wet a line in the water of the Sea of Galilee ? Is 
it any less likely to come back to me on any lake among 
the hills when the twilight hides the mountains, and 
overhead the same stars look on our waters that looked 
on Gennesaret, so that the soft night air feels on one's 
forehead like the dews of Hermon ? 

I do not think that this was the last, though it be 
the last recorded fishing done by Peter or by John. I 
don't believe these Galilee fishermen ever lost the love 
for their old employment. It was a memorable fact for 
them that the Master had gone a-fishing with them on 
the day that He called them to be His disciples ; and 
this latest meeting with Him in Galilee, the commis- 
sion to Peter, " Feed my sheep," and the words so 
startling to John, "If I will that he tarry till I 
come," — words which He must have recalled when He 
uttered that last longing cry, "Even so come, Lord" 
— all these were associated with that last recorded fish- 
ing scene on the waters of Gennesaret. 

Fishermen never lose their love for the employment, 
and it is notably true that the men who fish for a liv- 
ing love their work quite as much as those who fish for 
pleasure love their sport. Find an old fisherman, if 
you can, in any sea-shore town, who does not enjoy his 
fishing. There are days, without doubt, when he does 
not care to go out, when he would rather that need did 
not drive him to the sea ; but keep him at home a few 
days, or set him at other labor, and you shall see that he 



176 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

longs for the toss of the swell on the reef, and the sud- 
den joy of a strong pull on his line. Drift up along 
side of him in your boat when he is quietly at his work, 
without his knowing that you are near. You can do it 
easily. He is pondering solemnly a question of deep 
importance to him, and he has not stirred eye, or hand, 
or head for ten minutes. But see that start and sharp 
jerk of his elbow, and now hear him talk, not to you — 
to the fish. He exults as he brings him in, yet mingles 
his exultation with something of pity as he baits his 
hook for another. Could you gather the words that he 
has in many years flung on the sea winds, you would 
have a history of his life and adventures, mingled 
with very much of his inmost thinking, for he tells 
much to the sea and the fish that he would never whisper 
in human ears. Thus the habit of going a-fishing always 
modifies the character. The angler, I think, dreams of 
his favorite sport oftener than other men of theirs. 

There is a peculiar excitement in it, which perhaps 
arises from somewhat of the same causes which make 
the interest in searching for ancient treasures, opening 
Egyptian tombs and digging into old ruins. One does 
not know what is under the surface. There may be 
something or there may be nothing. He tries, and the 
rush of something startles every nerve. Let no man 
laugh at a comparison of trout-fishing with antiquarian 
researches. I know a man who has done a great deal 
of both, and who scarcely knows which is the most 
absorbing or most remunerating ; for each enriches 



WHY PETER WENT A-FI3HING. 177 

mind and body, each gratifies the most refined taste, 
each becomes a passion unless the pursuer guard his 
enthusiasm and moderate his desire. 

To you, my friend, who know nothing of the gentle 
and purifying association of the angler's life, these may 
seem strange notions — to some, indeed, they may even 
sound profane. But the angler for whom I write will 
not so think them, nor may I, who, thinking these same 
thoughts, have cast my line on the sea of Galilee, and 
taken the descendants of old fish in the swift waters 
of the Jordan. 

Trout fishing is employment for all men, of all minds. 
It tends to dreamy life, and it leads to much thought 
and reflection. I do not know in any book or story of 
modern times a more touching and exquisite scene than 
that which Mrs. Gordon gives in her admirable biogra- 
phy of her father, the leonine Christopher North, when 
the feeble old man waved his rod for the last time over 
the Dochart, where he had taken trout from his boy- 
hood. Shall we ever look upon his like again ? He 
was a giant among men of intellectual greatness. Of all 
anglers since apostolic days, he was the greatest ; and 
there is no angler who does not look to him with 
veneration and love, while the English language will 
forever possess higher value that he has lived and 
written. It would be thought very strange were one to 
say that Wilson would never have been half the man he 
was were he not an angler. But he would have said so 
12 



178 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

himself, and I am not sure but he did say so, and, 
whether he did or not, I have no doubt of the truth of 
the saying. 

It has happened to me to fish the Dochart, from the 
old inn at Luib down to the bridge, and the form of the 
groat Christopher was forever before me along the bank, 
and in the rapids, making his last casts as Mrs. Gordon 
here so tenderly describes him : 

" Had my father been able to endure the fatigue, we too 
would have had something to boast of, but he was unable to do 
more than loiter by the river-side, close in the neighborhood of 
the inn — never without his rod. * * * 

' ' How now do his feet touch the heather ? Not, as of old, 
with a bound, but with slow and unsteady step, supported on 
the one hand by his stick, while the other carries his rod. The 
breeze gently moves his locks, no longer glittering with the light 
of life, but dimmed by its decay. Yet are his shoulders broad 
and unbent. The lion-like presence is somewhat softened down, 
but not gone. He surely will not venture into the deeps of the 
water, for only one hand is free for a ' cast,' and those large 
stones, now slippery with moss, are dangerous stumbling-blocks 
in the way. Besides, he promised his daughters he would not 
wade, but, on the contrary, walk quietly with them by the 
river's edge, there gliding ' at its own sweet will.' Silvery band 
of pebbled shore leading to loamy colored pools, dark as the 
glow of a southern eye, how could he resist the temptation of 
near approach ? In he goes, up to the ankles, then to the knees, 
tottering every other step, but never falling. Trout after trout 
he catches, small ones certainly, but plenty of them. Into his 
pocket with them all this time, manceuvering in the most skilful 
manner both stick and rod ; until- weary, he is obliged to rest on 
the bank, sitting with his feet in the water, laughing at his 



WHY PETER WENT A-FISHWG. 179 

daughters' horror, and obstinately continuing the sport in spite 
of all remonstrance. At last he gives in and retires. Wonder- 
ful to say, he did not seem to suffer from these imprudent 
liberties." 

And Mrs. Gordon gives us another exquisite picture 
in the very last day of the grand old Christopher : 

* * * " And then he gathered around him, when the spring 
mornings brought gay jets of sunshine into the little room where 
he lay, the relics of a youthful passion, one that with him never 
grew old. It was an affecting sight to see him busy, nay, quite 
absorbed with the fishing tackle scattered about his bed, propped 
up with pillows — his noble head, yet glorious with its flowing 
locks, carefully combed by attentive hands, and falling on each 
side of his unfaded face. How neatly he picked out each ele- 
gantly dressed fly from its little bunch, drawing it out with 
trembling hand along the white coverlet, and then replacing it 
in his pocket-book, he would tell ever and anon of the streams he 
iised to fish in of old, and of the deeds he had performed in his 
childhood and youth. " 

There is no angler who will not appreciate the beauty 
of these pictures, and I do not believe any one of us, 
retaining his mental faculties, will fail, in extremest 
age, to recall with the keenest enjoyment, of which 
memory is capable, the scenes of our happiest sport. 

Was Peter less or more than man ? Was John not of 
like passions with ourselves ? Believe me, the old dwel- 
ler on Patmos, the old Bishop of Ephesus, lingering 
between the memories of his Lord in Galilee and the 
longing for Him to come quickly yet again, saw often 
before his dim eyes the ripple on Gennesaret and the 



180 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

flashing scales of the silver fish that had gladdened him 
many a time before he knew the Master. 

It is one of the most pleasant and absorbing thoughts 
which possess the traveller in those regions, that the 
child Christ was a child among the hills of Galilee, 
and loved them with all the gentle fervor of his human 
soul. Doubtless many times before He had challenged 
the fisher on the sea with that same question which we 
anglers so frequently hear, " Have you taken any fish ? " 
He may have often seen Peter and the others at their 
work. Perhaps sometimes He had talked with them, 
and, it may well be, gone with them on the sea, and 
helped them. For they were kindly men, as fishermen 
are always in all countries, and they loved to talk of their 
work, and of a thousand other things, of which, in their 
contemplative lives, they had thought without talking. 

In an age when few men were learned, and, in fact, 
few in any grade or walk of life could even read or 
write, I am inclined to think there was no class from 
whom better trained intellects could be selected than 
from among these thoughtful fishermen. They had 
doubtless the Oriental characteristics of calmness and 
reserve, and these had been somewhat modified by their 
employment. Given to sober reflection, patient to in- 
vestigate, quick to trust when their faith was demanded 
by one whom they respected, slow to act when haste 
was not necessary, prompt and swift on any emergency, 
filled full of love for nature, all harsh elements of 
character softened into a deep benevolence and pity and 



WHY PETER WENT A-FISHING. 181 

love — such are the fishermen of our day, and such, I 
doubt not, were the fishermen of old. They were 
men with whom a mother would willingly trust her 
young boy, to whom he would become attached, with 
whom he would enjoy talking, and, above all, who 
would pour out their very souls in talking with him, 
when among their fellow-men they would be reserved, 
diffident, and silent. They were men, too, who would 
recognize in the boy the greatness of his lineage, the 
divine shining out from his eyes. Who shall prevail to 
imagine the pleasantness of those days on the sea when 
Peter and John talked with the holy boy, as they 
waited for the fish, and their boat rocked to the winds 
that came down from Lebanon. Who can say that 
there were not some memories of those days, as well as 
of the others when we know Christ was with him, 
which, when he was tired of the waiting, led Peter to 
say, " I go a-fishing !" 

I believe that he went a-fishing because he felt exactly 
as I have felt, exactly as scores of men have felt who 
knew the charm of the gentle art, as we now call it. 
No other has such attraction. Men love hunting, love 
boating, love games of varied sorts, love many amuse- 
ments of many kinds, but I do not know of any like 
fishing to which men go for relief in weariness, for rest 
after labor, for solace in sorrow. I can well under- 
stand how those sad men, not yet fully appreciating 
the grand truth that their Master had risen from the 
dead, believing ; yet doubting, how even Thomas, who 



182 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

had so lately seen the wounds and heard the voice; how 
even John, loving and loved, who had rejoiced a week 
ago in Jerusalem at the presence of the triumphant 
Lord ; how Peter, always fearful ; how Nathanael, full 
of impulsive faith, how each and all of them, wearied 
with their long waiting for Him on the shore of the 
sea, sought comfort and solace, opportunity and incite- 
ment to thought in going a-fishing. 

I can understand it, for, though far be it from me to 
compare any weariness or sorrow of mine with theirs, 
I have known that there was no better way in which I 
could find rest. 

I have written for lovers of the gentle art, and if this 
which I have written fall into other hands, let him 
who reads understand that it is not for him. We who 
go a-fishing are a peculiar people. Like other men and 
women in many respects, we are like one another, and 
like no others, in other respects. We understand each 
other's thoughts by an intuition of which you know 
nothing. So closely are we alike in some regards, so 
different from the rest of the world in these respects, 
and so important are these characteristics of mind and 
of thought, that I sometimes think no man but one of 
us can properly understand the mind of Peter, or ap- 
preciate the glorious visions of the son of Zebedee. 



FROM " GAME FISH OF THE NORTH." 



BY 
R. B. ROOSEVELT. 



There are innumerable rules applicable to trout- 
fishing, and innumerable exceptions to each ; neither 
man nor fish is infallible. A change of weather is 
always desirable; if it has been clear, a rainy day is 
favorable ; if cold, a warm one ; if the wind has been 
north, a southerly one is advantageous ; a zephyr if 
it has been blowing a tornado. Generally, in early 
spring, amid the fading snows and blasts of winter, a 
warm day is very desirable ; later, in the heats of sum- 
mer, a cold, windy day will insure success. Dead calm 
is dangerous, although many trout are taken in water 
as still, clear and transparent as the heavens above. 
The first rule is never to give up ; there is hardly a 
day but at some hour, if there be trout, they will rise, 
and steady, patient industry disciplines the mind and 
invigorates the muscles. A southerly, especially a 
south-easterly wind, has a singular tendency to darken 
the surface, and in clear, fine waters is particularly 
advantageous ; a south-wester comes next in order ; a 
north-easter, in which, by-the-by, occasionally there is 
great success, is the next ; and a north-wester is the 



184 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

worst and dearest of all. Give me wind on any terms, 
a southerly wind, if I cah have it ; but give me wind. 
It is not known what quality of wind darkens the 
water ; it may be a haziness produced in the atmos- 
phere, although with a cloudy sky the water is often 
too transparent ; it may be the peculiar character of 
the waves, short and broken, as contra-distinguished 
from long and rolling ; but the fact is entitled to re- 
liance. 

Slight changes will often affect the fish. On one 
day in June, in the writer's experience, after having no 
luck until eleven o'clock, the trout suddenly com- 
menced rising, and kept on without cessation, scarcely 
giving time to cast, till two, when they as suddenly 
stopped. There was no observable change in the 
weather, except the advent of a slight haze, the wind 
remaining precisely the same. I was much disap- 
pointed, not having half fished the ground, and being 
prevented, by the numbers that were taken, from cast- 
ing over some of the largest fish that broke. As it 
was I caught seventy troufc in what are ordinarily con- 
sidered the worst hours of the day. But in this par- 
ticular, also, the same rules apply as to the warmth of 
the weather. In early spring it is useless to be up 
with the lark, even supposing such a bird exists ; no 
fish will break water till the sun has warmed the air ; 
but in summer, the dawn should blush to find the 
sportsman napping. In fact, trout will not rise well 
unless the air is warmer than the water. They do not 



FROM " OA ME FISH OF TEE NORTH." 185 

like to risk taking cold by exposing themselves to a 
sudden draught. 

There is a very absurd impression that trout will 
not take the fly early in the season ; this is entirely un- 
founded. As soon as the ice disappears they will be 
found gambolling in the salt-water streams, and leap- 
ing readily at the fly. At such times, on lucky days, 
immense numbers are taken. In March they have run 
up the sluice-ways and are in the lower ponds, lying 
sullenly in the deepest water ; then is the Cowdung, 
politely called the Dark Cinnamon, the most attractive 
fly. In April, May and June they are scattered, and 
entrapped by the Hackles, Professor, Ibis, and all the 
medium-sized flies. In July and August they have 
sought the head-waters of navigation, the cool spring 
brooks, and hide around the weeds and water-cresses, 
whence the midges alone can tempt them. 

Any flies will catch fish, cast in any manner, if the 

-fish are plenty and in humor to be caught. A few 

feathers torn from the nearest and least suspicious 

chicken, and tied on an ordinary hook with a piece of 

thread, will constitute a fly in the imagination of a 

trout, provided he follows, as he sometimes appears to 

do, the advice of young folks — shuts his eyes and 

opens his mouth. I cannot recommend such tackle, 

being convinced the most skilfully made is the best ; 

but I do advise simplicity of color. 

****** 

Good luck, that synonym for all the virtues, does 



186 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

not depend so much npon the kind of flies as the skill 
in casting, and a poor fly lightly cast into the right 
spot will do better execution than the best fly roughly 
cast into the wrong place. The lure must be put 
where the fish habit, often before their very noses, or 
they will not take it ; and when they lie, as they gen- 
erally do in running streams, in the deep holes under 
the banks, where the bushes are closest and cause the 
densest shade, it requires some skill to cast properly 
into the exact spot. Sacrifice everything to lightness 
in casting ; let the line go straight without a kink if 
you can, drop the fly into the right ripple if possible, 
but it must drop gently on the surface of the water. 
An ugly splash of a clear day in pure water, and the 
prey will dart in every direction, and the angler's hopes 
scatter with them. 

A beginner may practice a certain formula, such as 
lifting the line with a wave and smart spring, swinging 
it backward in a half circle, and when it is directly be- 
hind him, casting straight forward ; but as soon as he 
has overcome the rudimentary principles, he should cast 
in every manner, making the tip of his rod cut full cir- 
cles, figure eights, and all other figures, behind him, 
according to the wind ; bearing in mind, however, ever 
to make bis fly drop as lightly as a feather. He should 
use his wrist mainly, and practice with each hand, and 
should never be otherwise than ashamed of a bungling 
cast, though he be alone, and none but the fish there to 
despise him. If the line falls the first time with a heart- 



FROM " GAME FISH OF THE NORTH:'' 187 

rending splash, all in a tangle, it is useless to make the 
next cast properly. The fish have found out the trick, 
and know too much to risk their necks in any such 
noose. 

A skilful fisherman can cast almost any length of line, 
but practically, fifty feet, counting from the reel, is all 
that can be used to advantage. Some English books say 
only the leader [gut links] should alight in the water ; 
but this is nonsense, for at least one-half the line must 
fall into the water, unless the fisherman stand on a high 
bank. "With a long line, the difficulties of striking and 
landing the fish are greatly increased. In striking, there 
is much slack line to be taken up. In landing, it re- 
quires some time to get the fish under control, and he is 
apt to reach the weeds or a stump. 

That most excellent fisherman and learned scholar, 
Dr. Bethune, in his edition of Walton, Part II., page 
73, says that candid anglers must confess that nine out 
of ten trout hook themselves. This may be so in streams 
teeming with fish, where a dozen start at once, frantically 
striving to be the first; but in clear, well-fished streams, 
not one fish in a thousand will hook himself ; and on 
Long Island, an angler would grow gray ere he filled 
his basket if he did not strike, and that quickly. Strik- 
ing, to my mind, is by far the most important point, and 
hundreds of fish have I seen escape for want of quick- 
ness. It must be done quickly but steadily, and not 
with a jerk, as the latter is apt, by the double action of 
the rod, to bend the tip forward, and loosen instead of 



188 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

tightening the line. There are days when fish cannot 
be struck, although they are rising freely. Whether 
they are playing or over-cautious, I never could deter- 
mine ; whether they are not hungry, or the water is 
too clear, they put a man's capacities at defiance. Their 
appearance must be signalled to the eye, by that reported 
to the brain, which then directs the nerves to command 
the muscles to move the wrist ; and ere this complicated 
performance is completed, the fish has blown from his 
mouth the feathery deception, and has darted back to 
his haunts of safety. A fish will occasionally leap up, 
seize the fly, discover the cheat, and shaking his head, 
jump several feet along the surface of the water to rid 
his mouth of it, and do this so quickly as not to give a 
quick angler time to strike. How often fish are caught 
when they rise the second time, as then the angler is 
more on the alert ; whereas, on the first rise, he was off 
his guard ! How often fish rise when the angler's head 
is turned away from his line, or when he is busy at some- 
thing else, and how rarely are they caught ! In my ex- 
perience, it is so great a rarity, that it might almost be 
said they never hook themselves. In the language of 
youth, the only hooking they do, is to hook off. 

Dr. Bethune, page 97, says the rod should not exceed 
one pound in weight. Indeed, it should not ; and if it 
does, it exemplifies the old maxim, so far as to have 
a fool at one end. If we could fish by steam, a rod 
exceeding a pound and measuring over fourteen feet 
might answer well ; but in these benighted days, while 



FROM " GAME FISH OF THE NORTH" 189 

wrists are of bone, muscles, cartilages, and the like, the 
lighter the better. A rod — and if perfection is absolu- 
tely indispensable, a cedar rod — of eleven or twelve feet, 
weighing nine or ten ounces, will catch trout. Cedar 
rods can only be obtained in America, and then only on 
compulsion ; but this wood makes the most elastic rods 
in the world. They spring instantly to every motion of 
the hand, and never warp. They are delicate. The wood 
is like woman — cross-grained, but invaluable, if carefully 
treated. The reel should be a simple click, never a 
multiplier, but large-barrelled, and fastened to the butt 
with a leather strap. The line silk, covered with a prep- 
aration of oil, tapered, if possible, at each end, and 
thirty to forty yards long. The basket — positive— a fish 
basket ; the angler — comparative — a fisherman. 

Thus equipped, go forth mildly, approving where the 
writer's opinions coincide with yours, simply incredu- 
lous where they do not. 

****** 

There are several ways of landing a trout, but not all 
equally sportsmanlike. Large trout may be gaffed ; 
small ones landed in a net ; and where neither of these 
means is at hand, they must be dragged out of the 
water, or floated up among the bushes, according to the 
taste of the angler and the strength of his tackle. 

A tyro was once fishing in the same boat with me, 
using bait, when he struck his first trout. One can 
imagine how entirely misspent had been his previous 
existence, when it is said he had never taken a trout, 



190 FISHING WITH THE FIT. 

no, nor any other fish, before. It was not a large fish ; 
such luck rarely falls to the share of the beginner; and 
in spite of what elderly gentlemen may say to the con- 
trary, an ignorant countryman, with his sapling rod 
and coarse tackle, never takes the largest fish nor the 
greatest in quantity. Were it otherwise, sportsmen had 
better turn louts, and tackle makers take to cutting 
straight saplings in the woods. My companion, never- 
theless, was not a little surprised at the vigorous rushes 
the trout made to escape, but his line being strong and 
rod stiff, he steadily reeled him in. Great was the 
excitement ; his whole mind was devoted to shortening 
the line, regardless of what was to be done next. We 
had a darkey named Joe with us, to row the boat and 
land the fish, and our luck having been bad during the 
morning he was delighted with this turn of affairs, and 
ready, net in hand, to do his duty. The fish was being 
reeled up till but a few feet of the line remained below 
the top, when with a shout of " land, Joe, land him !" 
my companion suddenly lifted up his rod, carrying the 
trout far above our heads. There it dangled, swaying 
to and fro, bouncing and jumping, while the agonized 
fisherman besought the darky to land him, and the 
latter, reaching up as far as he could with the net, his 
eyes starting out of his head with wonder at this novel 
mode of proceeding, came far short of his object. Never 
was seen such a sight ; the hopeless despair of my friend, 
the eagerness of the darky, who fairly strove to climb 
the rod as the fish danced about far out of reach. What 



FROM " GAME FISH OF THE NORTH." 191 

was to be clone ? The line would not render, the rod 
was so long we could not reach the tip in the boat ; and 
the only horrible alternative appeared to be my friend's 
losing his first fish. The latter, however, by this re- 
markable course of treatment, had grown peaceable 
and when he was dropped back into the water, made 
but feeble efforts, while my companion, as quietly as he 
could, worked out his line till he could land him like a 
Christian. Great were the rejoicings when the prize 
earned with so much anxiety was secured. That is the 
way not to land a trout. 

One afternoon of a very boisterous day, I struck a large 
fish at the deep hole in the centre of Phillipse's Pond, on 
Long Island. He came out fiercely, and taking my fly as 
he went down, darted at once for the bottom, which 
is absolutely covered with long, thick weeds. The 
moment he found he was struck he took refuge among 
them, and tangled himself so effectually that I could not 
feel him, and supposed he had escaped. By carefully 
exerting sufficient force, however, the weeds were loos- 
ened from the bottom, and the electric thrill of his 
renewed motion was again perceptible. He was allowed 
to draw the line through the weeds and play below 
them, as by so doing they would give a little, while if 
confined in them he would have a leverage against them, 
and could, with one vigorous twist, tear out the hook. 
When he was somewhat exhausted, the question as to 
the better mode of landing him arose. The wind was 
blowing so hard as to raise quite a sea, which washed 



192 FISHWG WITH TEE FLY. 

the weeds before it in spite of any strain that could be 
exerted by the rod, and drifted the boat as well, render- 
ing the latter almost unmanageable, while the fish was 
still so vigorous as to threaten every moment to escape. 
I besought the boatman, who was an old hand, and 
thoroughly up to his business, to drop the boat down 
to the weeds and let me try and land my fish with one 
hand while holding the rod with the other. He knew 
the dangers of such a course, and insisted upon rowing 
slowly and carefully for shore at a shallow place shel- 
tered from the wind, although I greatly feared the 
hook would tear out or the rod snap under the strain 
of towing both weeds and fish ; once near shore, he 
deliberately forced an oar into the mud and made the 
boat fast to it, and then taking up the net watched 
for a favorable chance. He waited for some time, 
carefully putting the weeds aside until a gleaming 
line of silver glanced for a moment beneath the water, 
when darting the net down he as suddenly brought it 
up, revealing within its folds the glorious colors of a 
splendid trout. That was the way to land a trout 
under difficulties, although I still think I could have 
done it successfully by myself. 

Generally the utmost delicacy should be shown in 
killing a fish, but there are times when force must be 
exerted. If the fish is making for a stump, or even 
weeds, he must be stopped at any reasonable risk of 
the rod's breaking or the fly's tearing out. A stump is 
the most dangerous ; one turn around that and he is 



FROM "GAME FISH OF THE NORTE:' 193 

off, leaving your flies probably in a most inconvenient 
place and many feet below the surface of the water. 
But remember the oft-repeated maxim of a friend of 
the writer, who had been with him many a joyous 
fishing clay, " That one trout hooked is worth a dozen 
not hooked." Small trout are more apt to escape than 
large ones, because the skin around the mouth of the 
latter is tougher. With either, however, there is risk 
enough. The hook is small, and often takes but a 
slight hold ; the gut is delicate, and frequently half 
worn through by continual casting. Fish are, in a 
majority of instances, hooked in the corner of the 
upper jaw, where there is but a thin skin to hold them ; 
by long continued struggling the hole wears larger, and 
finally, to the agony of the fisherman, the hook slips 
out. 

There are occasions when force must be exerted, and 
then good tackle and a well-made rod will repay the 
cost. At dusk, one night, I cautiously approached the 
edge of a newly made pond, that was as full of stumps 
as of fish, both being about the extreme limit, and 
casting into the clear water struck a fine fish of three- 
quarters of a pound. Not a minute's grace did he re- 
ceive, but I lugged and lie fought, and after a general 
turmoil I succeeded in bringing him to land, in sj)ite of 
weeds and stumps and twigs, which he did his best to 
reach. The same was done with Severn fish after a loss 
of only three flies and with a rod that weighed only 
eight ounces. 
13 



194 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

In landing a fish wait till he is pretty well exhausted, 
bring his mouth above water, and keep it there till 
he is drawn into the net, and warn your assistant to 
remove the net at once if he gets his head down. By 
diving after him with the net the assistant would cer- 
tainly not catch the fish and might tangle one of your 
other flies. The fish should be led into the net, and 
the latter kept as still as possible ; he knows as well as 
you do what it is for, and if his attention is drawn to 

it vv ill dart off as madly as ever. 

****** 

The trout is admitted to be the most beautiful of all 
our fish ; not so large or powerful as the salmon, he is 
much more numerous, abounding in all the brooks and 
rivulets of our Northern States. He lives at our very 
doors ; in the stream that meanders across yon meadow, 
where the haymakers are now busy with their scythes, 
we have taken him in our early days ; down yonder in 
that wood is a brook filled with bright, lively little fel- 
lows ; and away over there we know of pools where 
there are splendid ones. Who has not said or thought 
such words as he stood in the bright summer's day 
under the grateful shade of the piazza running round 
the old country house where he played — a boy ? 

He does not make the nerves thrill and tingle like 
the salmon, he does not leap so madly into the air nor 
make such fierce, resolute rushes ; he has not the silver 
sides, nor the great strength ; but he is beautiful as 
the sunset sky, brave as bravery itself, and is our own 



FROM "GAME FISH OF THE NORTH." 195 

home darling. How he flashes upon the sight as he 
grasps the spurious insect, and turns down with a quick 
little slap of the tail ! How he darts hither and thither 
when he finds he is hooked ! How persistently he 
struggles till enveloped in the net ! And then with 
what heart-rending sighs he breathes away his life ! 
Who does not love the lovely trout ? With eye as deep 
and melting, skin as rich and soft, and ways as wildly 
wilful as angelic woman — who loves not one loves not 
the other. Who would not win the one cares not to 
win the other. Strange that man should " kill the 
thing he loves ;" but if to possess them kills them, he 
must kill. If women, like the Epliemerm, died, as they 
often do, in their love, we should still love them. Such 
is man ; do not think I jDraise him. No one kills fish 
for the pleasure of killing ; but they cannot live out of 
water, nor we in it, therefore one of us must die. 

The man who kills to kill, who is not satisfied with 
reasonable sport, who slays unfairly or out of season, 
who adds one wanton pang, that man receives the con- 
tempt of all good sportsmen and deserves the felon's 
doom. Of such there are but few. 

We seek this, our favorite fish, in early spring, when 
the ice has just melted, and the cold winds remind 
one forcibly of bleak December, and when we find him 
in the salt streams, especially of Long Island and 
Cape Cod ; but we love most to follow him in the early 
summer, along the merry streams of old Orange, or 
the mountain brooks of Sullivan county; where the 



196 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

air is full of gladness, and the trees are heayy with 
foliage — where the birds are singing on every bough, 
and the grass redolent of violets and early flowers. 
There we wade the cold brooks, leafy branches bowing 
us a welcome as we pass, the water rippling over the 
hidden rocks, and telling us, in its wayward way, of 
the fine fish it carries in its bosom. With creel upon 
our shoulder and rod in hand, we reck not of the hours, 
and only when the sinking sun warns of the approach- 
ing darkness do we seek, with sharpened appetite, the 
hospitable country inn, and the comfortable supper 
that our prey will furnish forth. 

There is no fish more difficult to catch, nor that 
gives the true angler more genuine sport, than the 
trout. His capture requires the nicest tackle, the 
greatest skill, the most complete self-command, the 
highest qualities of mind and body. The arm must be 
strong that wields the rod, the eye true that sees the 
rise ; the wrist quick that strikes at the instant ; the 
judgment good that selects the best spot, the most 
suitable fly, and knows just how to kill the fish. A 
fine temper is required to bear up against the loss of 
a noble fish, and patient perseverance to conquer ill 
luck. 

Hence it is that the fisherman is so proud of his 
basket of a dozen half-pound trout. He feels that any 
one more awkward or less resolute could not have done 
so well. He feels conscious that he does not owe his 



FROM "GAME FISH OF THE NORTH." 197 

success to mere luck, but lias deserved the glory. He 
feels that he has elevated himself by the very effort. 
Do not suppose I mean that there is no skill in other 
fishing ; there is in all, even iu catching minnows for 
bait, but most of all in trout-fishing. 



TROUT FLIES. 




Made by C.F.ORVIS. Manchester, Vt. 



CO PYR I G H T E D 



" That we are wise men, I shall not stoop to maintain, but that 
we do love angling we are assured of, and therein we know that 
we are in unison with very many greatly wise and wisely good 
men." — Thaddeus Norris. 

" The true angler is not confined to fly-fishing, as many imag- 
ine. When the fiy can be used it always should be used, but 
where the fly is impracticable, or t *e fish will not rise to it, he 
is a very foolish angler who decli es . use bait." — W. C. Prime. 

" The creative power of genius can make a feather-fly live, and 
move, and have being ; and a wisely stricken fish gives up the 
ghost in transports." — " J. Cypress, Jr." 



64. Jungle Cock. 65. Lake Green. 

67. Poor Man's Fly. 68. Pheasant. 

70. Morrison. 71. Katy-did. 

73. Hoskins. 74. Caldwell. 

76. Queen of the 77. Olive Gnat. 
Water. 



66. Jenny Lind. 
69. Romeyn. 
72. Claret. 
75. Iron Dun. 
78. Brown Coflin. 



" The deftly-tossed fly, taking wing on the nerve of a masterly 
cast, will drop gracefully far out in the stream where the heavier 
gear of the bait rod would never aspire to reach." — Charles Hal- 
lock. 

" Fly-fishing may well be considered the most beautiful of all 
rural sports." — "Frank Forester." 

" To be a perfect trout fisher, to my mind, a man should follow 
no other branch of fishing. It spoils his hand if he does. I my- 
self, from the practice of striking so hard in both salmon, pike 
and other fishing, lose numbers of fish and flies in the course of 
the season ; and what makes it the more vexing is that they are 
nearly always the best and heaviest fish." — Francis Francis. 



" If a pricked trout is chased into another pool, he will, I be- 
lieve, soon again take the artificial fly." — Sir Humphry Davy. 

" It is only the inexperienced and thoughtless who find pleasure 
in killing fish for the mere sake of killing them. No sportsman 
does this." — W. C. Prime. 

" We persevered, notwithstanding the storm, and got our hun- 
dred trout, all alive and active, into Lake Salubria. They did 
not, however, multiply as we hoped they would. For years one 
would hear occasionally of a great trout being caught in the lake, 
till at last they were all gone. They lacked the ripples and the 
running water. They lived to be old, and then died without 
progeny, ' making no sign.' " — S. H. Hammond. 

" The trout is such a light food, that eight of them, some ten 
inches long, will not make a supper for a hearty man, leading this 
wilderness life." — "Porte Crayon." 

" I believe I am sincere in saying that I enjoy seeing another 
man throw a fly, if he is a good and graceful sportsman, quite as 
much as doing it myself." — W. C. Prime. 

"I was content with my one glimpse, by twilight, at the for- 
est's great and solemn heart ; and having once, alone, and in such 
an hour, touched it with my own hand and listened to its throb, 
I have felt the awe of that experience evermore." — A. Judd 
Northrup. 



THE POETRY OF FLY FISHING. 

BY 

F. E. POND. 

It has been said that the angler, like the poet, is 
born, not made. This is a self-evident fact. Few men 
have risen to the dignity of anglers who did not in 
early youth feel the unconquerable impulse to go a- 
fishing. There are, of course, noteworthy exceptions, 
but the rule holds good. It might be added, too, that 
the genuine angler is almost invariably a poet, although 
he may not be a jingler of rhymes — a ballad-monger. 
Though, perhaps, lacking the art of vesification, his 
whole life is in itself a well-rounded poem, and he 
never misses the opportunity to "cast his lines in 
pleasant places." 

This is particularly true of the artistic fly-fisher, for 
with him each line is cast with the poetry of motion. 
Ned Locus, the inimitable character of J. Cypress' 
"Fire Island Ana," is made to aver that he "once 
threw his fly so far, so delicately, and suspendedly, that 
it took life and wings, and would have flown away, but 
that a four-pound trout, seeing it start, jumped a foot 
from the water and seized it, thus changing the course 
of the insect's travel from the upper atmosphere to the 



202 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

bottom of his throat." Being quoted from memory, 
these may not be the words exactly, as Toodles would 
say, but the sentiment is the same. There is the true 
poetical spirit pervading the very air, whispering from 
the leaves, murmuring in the brook, and thus the sur- 
roundings of the angler complete that which nature 
began, and make him a poet. In common with other 
sports of the field, though in greater degree : 

" It is a mingled rapture, and we find 
The bodily spirit mounting to the mind." 

Bards have sung its praises, traditions have hallowed 
it, and philosophers have revelled in the gentle pastime, 
from the days of Oppian and Homer down to Walton, 
Christopher North and Tennyson. 

Although the art of fly-fishing was not known to the 
ancients, the poetry of angling has been enriched by 
the bards of ye-olden-time to a remarkable degree. In 
Pope's translation of the Iliad, the following passage 

occurs : 

" As from some rock that overhangs the flood, 
The silent fisher casts the insidious food ; 
With fraudful care he waits the finny prize, 
Then sudden lifts it quivering to the skies." 

One of the most familiar of iEsop's fables, in rhyme, 
is that of the Fisherman and the Little Fish, while 
Theocritus, who flourished about the year 270 B. c, 
gives us a spirited idyl representing the life of a Greek 
fisherman. Oppian and Aristotle each prepared a clas- 



THE POETRY OF FLY FISHING. 203 

sical volume on fish and fishing. Pliny in his " Historia 
Naturalis " treats at length of the finny tribes, and 
Ansonius in his poem, "Mostella," describes the tench, 
salmon and other varieties of fish. 

Among the early contributions to English literature 
on angling, the " Poeticae,' ' generally attributed to a 
Scottish balladist known as Blind Harry, is conspicu- 
ous. Then the "Boke of St. Albans," by Dame Juliana 
Berners, and quaint old Izaak Walton's " Compleat 
Angler " — a brace of classic volumes dear to the heart 
of all who love the rod and reel. 

In modern times the literature of angling has had 
scores of staunch and able supporters among the writers 
of Britain and our own land. Sir Humphry Davy's 
" Salmonia " ; Christopher North's essays on angling, in 
"Noctes Ambrosianae " ; Stoddart's Angling Songs ; 
all these and a score of others are familiar to rodsters 
on both sides of the Atlantic. The clever poet and 
satirist, Tom Hood, discourses thus in praise of the 
gentle art : 

" Of all sports ever sported, commend me to angling. 
It is the wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best; the safest, 
cheapest, and in all likelihood the oldest of pastimes. 
It is a one-handed game that would have suited Adam 
himself ; and it was the only one by which Noah could 
have amused himself in the ark. Hunting and shoot- 
ing come in second and third. The common phrase, 
'fish, flesh and fowl,' clearly hints at this order of pre- 
cedence. * * * To refer to my own experience, I 



204 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

certainly became acquainted with the angling rod soon 
after the birchen one, and long before I had any prac- 
tical knowledge of i Nimrod' or 'Bamrod.' The truth 
is, angling comes by nature. It is in the system, as the 
doctors say." 

It is no exaggeration to state that the real poetry of 
fly-fishing, as given in the grand old book of Nature, 
is appreciated to the fullest by American anglers. The 
breezy air of the forest leaves is found in the charming 
works of Beth une, of Herbert, Hawes, Norris, Dawson, 
Hallock and many other worthies, past and present. 
The modern Horace — he of the traditional white hat — 
never wrote a better essay than that descriptive of his 
early fishing days. The same is true of Eev. Henry 
Ward Beecher, and Charles Dudley Warner's most 
graphic pen picture is his inimitable sketch, "A Fight 
with a Trout." The number of really good books on 
American field sports is principally made up of angling 
works, a fact which goes far to establish the truth of 
Wm. T. Porter's assertion, namely : "No man ever 
truly polished a book unless he were something of an 
angler, or at least loved the occupation. He who steals 
from the haunts of men into the green solitudes of 
Nature, by the banks of gliding, silvery streams, under 
the checkering lights of sun, leaf and cloud, may 
always hope to cast his lines, whether of the rod or the 
' record book,' in pleasant places." 

This may be appropriately supplemented by the 
opinion, poetically expressed by the same author, with 



THE POETRY OF FLY FISHING. 205 

reference to.the art of fishing with the artificial fly, 
thus : "Fly-fishing has been designated the royal and 
aristocratic branch of the angler's craft, and unques- 
tionably it is the most difficult, the most elegant, and 
to men of taste, by myriads of degrees the most pleasant 
and exciting mode of angling. To land a trout of three, 
four or five pounds weight, and sometimes heavier, with 
a hook almost invisible, with a gut line almost as deli- 
cate and beautiful as a single hair from the raven tresses 
of a mountain sylph, and with a rod not heavier than a 
tandem whip, is an achievement requiring no little 
presence of mind, united to consummate skill. If it 
be not so, and if it do not give you some very pretty 
palpitations of the heart in the performance, may we 
never wet a line in Lake George, or raise a trout in the 
Susquehanna." 

Thomson, the much admired author of " The Sea- 
sons," was in his youth a zealous angler, frequently cast- 
ing his fly in the rippling waters of the Tweed, a trout- 
stream justly famous along the Scottish border. The 
poet has eulogized his favorite j^astime of fly-fishing in 
the following elegant lines : 

" Now, when the first foul torrent of the brooks, 
• fc Swell'd with the vernal rains, is ebb'd away ; 

And, whitening, down their mossy tinctur'd stream 
Descends the billowy foam, now is the time, 
While yet the dark brown water aids the guile 
To tempt the trout. The well-dissembled fly — 
The rod, fine tapering with elastic spring, 



206 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

Snatch'd from the hoary stud the floating line. 
And all thy slender wat'ry stores prepare ; 
But let not on thy hook the tortur'd worm 
Convulsive twist in agonizing folds, 
Which, by rapacious hunger swallow'd deep, 
Gives, as you tear it from the bleeding breast 
Of the weak, helpless, uncomplaining wretch, 
Harsh pain and horror to the tender hand." 
«• * * * * * 

" When, with his lively ray, the potent sun 
Has pierc'd the streams, and rous'd the finny race, 
Then, issuing cheerful to thy sport repair ; 
Chief should the western breezes curling play, 
And light o'er ether bear the shadowy clouds, 
High to their fount, this day, amid the hills 
And woodlands warbling round, trace up the brooks ; 
The next pursue their rocky-channel' d maze 
Down to the river, in whose ample wave 
Their little Naiads love to sport at large. 
Just in the dubious point, where with the pool 
Is mix'd the trembling stream, or where it boils 
Around the stone, or from the hollow'd bank 
Reverted plays in undulating flow, 
There throw, nice judging, the delusive fly ; 
And, as you lead it round the artful curve, 
With eye attentive mark the springing game. 
Straight as above the surface of the flood 
They wanton rise, or, urged by hunger, leap, 
Then fix, with gentle twitch, the barbed hook ; 
Some lightly tossing to the grassy bank, 
And to the shelving shore slow dragging some 
With various hand proportion'd to their force. 
If yet too young, and easily deceiv'd, 
A worthless prey scarce bends your pliant rod. 



THE POETRY OF FLY FISHING. 207 

Him, piteous of his youth, and the short space 
He has enjoy'd the vital light of heaven, 
Soft disengage, and back into the stream 
The speckl'd captive throw ; but, should you lure 
From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots 
Of pendent trees, the monarch of the brook, 
Behooves you then to ply your finest art. 
Long time he, following cautious, scans the fly, 
And oft attempts to seize it, but as oft 
The dimpled water speaks his jealous fear. 
At last, while haply o'er the shaded sun 
Passes a cloud, he desperate takes the death 
With sullen plunge : at once he darts along, 
Deep struck, and runs out all the lengthen'd line, 
Then seeks the farthest ooze, the sheltering weed, 
The cavern'd bank, his old secure above, 
And flies aloft, and flounces round the pool, 
Indignant of the guile. With yielding hand, 
That feels him still, yet to his furious course 
Gives way, you, now retiring, following now, 
Across the stream, exhaust his idle rage, 
'Till floating broad upon his breathless side, 
And to his fate abandon'd, to the shore 
You gayly drag your unresisting prize." 

Angling, like every other manly pastime, has had 
numerous assailants — some of them "men of mark," 
as in the case of Lord Byron, whose "fine phrensy" in 
denouncing Walton and the gentle art failed not to 
draw down upon himself the laughter of a world. The 
plaint of Lord Byron runs thus : 

" Then there were billiards ; cards, too ; but no dice, 
Save in the clubs no man of honor plays — 



208 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

Boats when 'twas water, skating when 'twas ice, 
And the hard frost destroy'd the scenting days ; 

And angling, too, that solitary vice, 
Whatever Izaac Walton sings or says ; 

The quaint old cruel coxcomb in his gullet, 

Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it." 

Another famous satirist of the old school defines 
angling as " a stick and a string, with a fish at one 
end and a fool at the other," while a third, the well- 
known Peter Pindar, in closing a " Ballad to a Fish in 
the Brook," takes occasion to say : 

"Enjoy thy stream, oh, harmless fish, 
And when an angler for his dish, 

Through gluttony's vile sin, 
Attempts— a wretch — to pull thee out, 
God give thee strength, oh, gentle trout, 
To pull the rascal in." 

All who love to go a-fishing can well afford to smile 
at the malicious flings of morbid critics, and while rec- 
reating both mind and body in casting the mimic fly 
along the dashing mountain stream, think of the 
deluded satirists in pity rather than condemnation. 

Let us, then, in unison with the quaint and charm- 
ing poet, Gay : 

"Mark well the various seasons of the year, 
How the succeeding insect race appear, 
In their revolving moon one color reigns, 
Which in the next the fickle trout disdains; 
Oft have I seen a skilful angler try 



THE POETR Y OF FLY FISHING. 209 

The various colors of the treach'rous fly ; 
When he with fruitless pain hath skim'd the brook, 
And the coy fish rejects the skipping hook. 
He shakes the boughs that on the margin grow, 
Which o'er the stream a weaving forest throw ; 
When if an insect fall (his certain guide) 
He gently takes him from the whirling tide ; 
Examines well his form with curious eyes, 
His gaudy vest, his wings, his horns, his size. 
Then round his hook the chosen fur he winds, 
And on the back a speckled feather binds ; 
So just the colors shine through every part, 
That nature seems to live again in art." 



14 



A PERFECT DAY. 

BY 

GEO. W. VAN SICLEN. 



I take my rod this fair June morning, and go forth 
to be alone with nature. No business cares, no roar of 
the city, no recitals of others' troubles and woes which 
make the lawyer a human hygrometer, no doubts nor 
fears to disturb me as, drinking in the clear, sweet air 
with blissful anticipation, I saunter through the wood- 
path toward the mountain lake. As I brush the dew 
from the bushes around me, I spy in a glade golden 
flowers glowing on a carpet of pure green, mingled 
with the snowy stars of white blossoms ; with their fra- 
grance comes the liquid, bell-like voice of the swamp- 
robin, hidden from curious eyes. Soon seated in my 
boat, I paddle to the shade of a tall, dark hemlock and 
rest there, lulled by the intense quiet. Ever and anon 
as I dreamily cast my ethereal fly, a thrill of pleasure 
electrifies me, as it is seized by a vigorous trout. 

I haye long classed trout with flowers and birds, and 
bright sunsets, and charming scenery, and beautiful 
women, as giyen for the rational enjoyment and delight 
of thoughtful men of aesthetic tastes. And if 



212 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

" By deeds our lives shall measured be, 
And not by length of days," 

then a perfect life has been lived by many a noble trout 
whose years have been few, but who, caught by the fish- 
er's lure (to which he was predestined, as aforesaid), 
has leaped into the air and shaken the sparkling drops 
from his purple, golden, crimson, graceful form and 
struggled to be free, to the intense delight of the artist 
who brought him to the basket, where he belonged. 

Thus resting, and floating apparently between the 
translucent crystal and the blue ether, silent, I have 
felt the presence of a spirit who inspires one with pure 
thoughts of matters far above the affairs of daily life 
and toil, of the universe and what lies beyond the blue 
sky, and of the mind and soul of man, and his future 
after death. 

I love the mountains, and the meadows, and the 
woods. 

Later satisfied, but not satiated, with fair provision 
of corn, and wine, and oil, and my creel well filled, the 
shadows lengthen and the day begins to die. 

Some day I shall hear no more forever the birds sing 
in the sylvan shade. My eyes will no more behold the 
woods I love so well. For the last time my feet will 
slowly tread this woodland road, and I shall watch for 
the last time the changing shadows made by the clouds 
upon the hillsides. 

There will come a time when the setting sun will 
paint the west as the bridegroom colors the cheek of 



A PERFECT DA Y. 213 

the bride ; but I shall not know it, and I shall never 
again share such hours of peace with the leafy trees. 
Then, with folded hands upon my quiet breast, my 
friends will briefly gaze upon my face and I shall be 
gone. In that last day, so full of deepest interest to 
me, may my soul be pure. 

Filled with such thoughts, I regret that I cannot ex- 
press them like the poet, whose name I know not, but 
whose words I will recall : 

" Good-bye, sweet da}', good-bye ! 
I have so loved thee, but I cannot hold thee ; 
Departing like a dream the shadows fold thee. 
Slowly thy perfect beauty fades away ; 
Good-bye, sweet day. 

" Good-bye, sweet day, good-bye! 
Dear were the golden hours of tranquil splendor. 
Sadly thou yieldest to the evening tender, 
Who wert so fair from thy first morning ray. 
Good-bye, sweet day. 

'• Good-bye, sweet day, good-bye ! 
Thy glow and charm, thy smiles and tones and glances 
Vanish at last and solemn night advances. 
Ah ! couldst thou yet a little longer stay. 
Good-bye, sweet day. 

" Good-bye, sweet day, good-bye! 
All thy rich gifts my grateful heart remembers, 
The while I watched thy sunset's smouldering embers 
Die in the west beneath the twilight gray. 
Good-bye, sweet day." 



214 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

As the balsam-breathing night wind begins to blow, 
I turn my back upon the silver glancing of the moon- 
light on the rippling wayes of the fairy lake, and step 
bravely into the darkness of the woods, where 1 cannot 
see the places where my foot shall fall, but I know that 
others have safely passed it before, and that I shall find 
comfort and home at the end. 

Note. — " Description of a day on Balsam Lake (headwaters of 
the Beaverkill) where no house was ever built. From the lake it is 
two miles through the woods (about ten miles in the dark) to the 
nearest house," — Extract from letter accompanging article. 



? HACKLES & -GNATS. 




Made by C F.ORVIS. Manchester.Vt 



COPYRIGHTED 



' ' I handle this ' brown hackle ' as gently as a relic, not alone 
because it is the memento of an unusual achievement, but because 
the sight of it brings up vividly before me the beautiful lake where 
the trout lay ; its crystal waters ; the glinting of its ruhltd sur- 
face as the bright sun fell upon it ; the densely wooded hills which 
encircled it; the soughing of the tall pines as the summer's breeze 
swept through their branches; and the thrill which coursed 
through every nerve as trout after trout leaped to the cast, and, 
after such manipulation and ' play ' as only those who have had 
personal experience can com .,> -^ ^d, were duly captured." — 
Oeorg: Dawson. 

" Don't be in too great a hurry to change your flies." — Francis 
Francis. 

i. Brown Hackle. 2. Scarlet Hackle. 3. White Hackle. 

4. Yellow Hackle. 5. Ginger Hackle. 6. Gray Hackle. 

7. Black Hackle. 8. Coch-y-Bouddir, 9. Gray Hackle. 

1. Emerald Gnat. 2. Black C. 3. Soldier Gnat. 

Pennell Hackles. 

1. Brown Pennell. 2. Yellow Pennell. 3. Green Pennell. 

' ' And now v/e have got through the poetry of the art. Hith- 
erto things have gone happy as a marriage bell. I unhesitatingly 
declare, and I confidently appeal to my brother Angler, whether 
he, a fly fisherman, does not feel similarly. To me fly-fishing is 
a labor of love; the other is labor -alone. But notwithstanding 
such are my feelings, it by no_ means follows that every one else 
so fancies it. Every one to his taste." — Ca.pt. Peel (" Dinks ") 

" When Spring comes round, look to your tackle with careful 
inspection, and see that all are in perfect order. Above all, look 
well to your flies; reject all specimens that have been injured by 
use, and all frayed gut lengths. It is better to throw away a 
handful now, than to lose flies and heavy fish together the first 
time you fasten to a rise."— Charles Hallock. 



" That hook is for a very little fly, and you must make your 
wings accordingly; for as the case stands it must be a little fly, 
and a very little one too, that must do your business." — Charles 
Cotton. 

" For some reason which I have not succeeded in fathoming, 
the yellow fly always seems to kill best in the position of dropper, 
or bob -fly, and the green when employed as the stretcher, or tail- 
fly. The brown can be used in either position. " — H. Cholmon- 
deley-Pennell. 

' ' Note that usually, the smallest flies are best ; and note also, 
that the light flie does usually make most sport in a dark day; 
and the darkest and least flie in a bright or clear day." — Izadk 
Walton. 

" No description with pen or tongue can teach you how to cast 
a fly. Accompany an expert and watch him." — T. S. Up de 
Graff, M.D. 

1 ' There is no more graceful and healthful accomplishment for a 
lady than fly-fishing, and there is no reason why a lady should 
not in every respect rival a gentleman in the gentle art." — W. C. 
Prime. 

" Everything which makes deception more alluring should be 
resorted to by an Angler; for, let his experience be ever so great, 
he will always find opportunities to regret his deficiencies." — 
Parker Gilmore. 



SUGGESTIONS 

BY 

CHARLES F. ORVIS. 



During my long intercourse with the angling fra- 
ternity, I have always found its members very ready to 
receive and impart suggestions, in the most friendly 
manner. It appears to me that those who are de- 
voted to "the gentle art," are especially good-natured; 
and while very many have their own peculiar ideas 
as to this or that, yet they are always willing and 
anxious to hear the opinions of others. Believing 
this, I am prompted to make a few suggestions, in re- 
gard to fly-fishing for trout, and the tackle used for 
that purpose ; and if I differ from any, which will be 
very likely, I trust that what appears erroneous will 
be regarded charitably ; and if I shall be so fortunate 
as to make any suggestions that will add to the enjoy- 
ment of any "brother of the Angle," I shall be con- 
tent. 

The rod, of course, is of the first importance in an 
outfit, as very much depends on its perfection. 

For ordinary fly-fishing for trout, a rod from ten to 
twelve feet in length will be found most convenient. 



218 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

I use a ten-foot rod, and find it meets all my require- 
ments. 

It is well to let your rod have weight enough to have 
some " back-bone " in it ; very light and very limber rods 
are objectionable, because with them one cannot cast 
well against, or across the wind ; and it is impossible to 
hook your fish with any certainty — especially with a 
long line out — or to handle one properly when hooked. 

A very limber rod will not re-act quickly enough, nor 
strongly enough to lift the line and fix the hook firmly ; 
because, when the upward motion is made, in the act 
of striking, the point of the rod first goes down ; and, 
unless it is as stiff as it will do to have it and cast well, 
it will not re-act until the fish has found out his mis- 
take and rejected the fraud. 

Rods ten to twelve feet long should weigh from seven 
and one-half to ten and one-half ounces, depending on 
the material and weight of mountings, size of hand- 
piece, etc. Many, perhaps, would say, that eight to 
ten ounces, for a single-handed fly-rod, is too heavy ; 
that such rods would prove tiresome to handle. Much 
depends on how the rod hangs. If a ten-ounce rod is 
properly balanced, it will be no harder work to use it 
than a poorly balanced seven-ounce rod — in fact, not 
as fatiguing. Some men can handle an eleven-foot rod 
with the same ease that another could one that was a 
foot shorter. Hence, the rod should be adapted to the 
person who is to use it. 

The stiffness of a split bamboo rod is one of its great 



SUGGESTIONS. 219 

merits. When I say stiffness, I mean the steel-like 
elasticity which causes it to re-act with such quickness. 

For material for fly-rods, bamboo ranks first, lance- 
wood next ; after mentioning these, there is not much 
to say. Green-heart is too uncertain. Paddlewood is 
very fine, but as yet, extremely difficult to obtain in any 
quantity. 

The balance, or " hang,*' of a rod is of the greatest 
importance. Let it be never so well made otherwise, 
if not properly balanced it will be worthless. 

The elasticity should be uniform, from tip to near 
the hand ; a true taper will not give this, because the 
ferules interfere with the uniform spring of the rod. 
For this reason a little enlargement between the ferules 
should be made, to compensate for the non-elasticity of 
the metal. These enlargements cannot be located by 
measurements, as much depends on the material and 
the length of the joint. 

Spliced rods can be made nearer a true taj)er, for 
obvious reasons ; although there is no doubt that a 
spliced rod is stronger and much more perfect in cast- 
ing qualities, yet they require such care to preserve 
the delicate ends of the splice, and are so troublesome 
in many ways, that few will use them. 

The details of rod-making having been so often told, 
I do not purpose making any suggestions on that 
subject, but will say that, in order to make a good 
fly-rod, the maker ought to know how to handle it, 
when finished. 



220 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

I believe in a very narrow reel, and use one that is 
only one-half inch between outside plates. As both 
ontside and spool plates are perforated, my line neyer 
mildews or gets tender. Hence, it is unnecessary to 
take the line off to dry it, as should be done when solid 
reel plates are used. 

With such a reel my line never tangles. If your reel 
be narrow between plates, and large in circumference, it 
will take up line rapidly, and obviate the use of a mul- 
tiplier, which is objectionable for fly-fishing. A light 
click is desirable, just strong enough to hold the handle 
and keep the line from over-running. More friction is 
of no use, and may cause you the loss of many fish. 

Experience satisfies me that you should use your 
reel on the under side of your rod, with handle to- 
wards the right — because the weight of the reel so 
placed holds the rod in proper position without your 
giving it a thought, and your right hand finds the reel 
handle without trouble ; because your reel is thus en- 
tirely out of the way of your arm ; because with the 
rod always in proper position, your left hand finds the 
line every time, to draw it from the reel when' wan ted 
for a longer cast ; because with the reel on the under 
side the rod is always exactly balanced, and you will 
not have to grasp it with anywhere near the force re- 
quired with the reel on the upper side. And you can 
make your casts with ease and lay out your flies gently 
and more accurately than you could with the firmer 
grip needful to be kept on the rod with the reel in the 



SUGGESTIONS. 221 

latter position, and because, without constant attention, 
your reel is never on the upper side of the rod to any 
certainty, but anywhere and everywhere. Keep your 
reels well oiled. 

Enamelled, or water-proof, braided silk, tapered, Am- 
erican fly-lines, are the best made for fly-fishing. It 
is important that the size of the line should be adapted 
to the rod. A heavy line on a very light rod would be 
bad. A very light line on a heavy rod would be worse. 
No. 3 or E, and No. 4 or F, are the two best sizes. I 
find many are inclined to use too light lines, supposing 
the lighter the line the less trouble there will be in cast- 
ing it. This, I think, is an error. 

It is impossible to cast well against or across the 
wind, with a very light line ; and very light lines do 
not "lay out" as easily or accurately as heavier ones. 

Leaders, or casting lines, I like rather heavy, pro- 
portionate to the line. To use a very light leader on a 
No. 4 line is not well ; for what is the leader but a 
continuation of the line ? Therefore it should approxi- 
mate the size of the line, that there may be no sudden 
change in size where the leader begins, in order that 
the flies shall keep ahead, where they belong. 

Leaders should be made with loops at proper inter- 
vals, to which the flies are to be attached. Leaders 
with such loops will last at least twice as long as those 
without them. 

Three flies are generally used ; perhaps two are just 
as good. But I use three and often find the increased 



222 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

number to work well, as presenting a greater variety to 
the fickle notions of the many trout, and it is best to 
take all the chances. 

The first dropper loop should be about thirty inches 
from the stretcher, or tail-fly. Second dropper, twenty- 
four inches above first dropper — dej)ending somewhat 
on the length of the leader. Let the flies be as far 
apart as I have indicated. A greater distance is not 
objectionable — a lesser is. 

Leaders should be tapered and made of the best qual- 
ity of round gut. " Mist colored " or stained leaders are, 
by many, thought to be better than the clear white gut ; 
but I must say I never have been able to see that they 
are, or that there is any difference, practically. There 
is no great objection to the colored leaders, and I use 
them myself usually. I will not undertake to settle 
the much-discussed question. Either plain or colored 
are good enough, if properly made and from good gut. 

Always let your leader lie in the water awhile before 
commencing to cast, that the gut may soften — or you 
may lose your leader, fish and temper, and blame some 
one because you think you have been cheated, when no 
one was in fault but yourself in your haste. When 
you have finished fishing, wind your leader around your 
hat, and the next time you use it it will not look like a 
cork-screw, and bother you half an hour in casting. 

To one who has not acquired the art of fishing with 
the fly, let me suggest that a day or two with an expert 
will save much time and trouble. There are many 



SUGGESTIONS. 223 

little tilings that cannot well be described, and would 
take a long time to find out by experience, that can be 
learned very quickly when seen. It is not easy to tell 
one exactly how to fish with the fly. 

I remember well my first trout ; I remember as well, 
the first fine rod and tackle I ever saw, and the genial 
old gentleman who handled them. I had thought I 
knew how to fish with the fly ; but when I saw my old 
friend step into the stream and make a cast, I just 
wound that line of mine around the "pole" I had 
supposed was about right, and I followed an artist. (I 
never used that "pole" again.) I devoted my time 
that afternoon to what to me was a revelation, and the 
quiet, cordial way in which the old gentleman accepted 
my admiration, and the pleasure he evidently took in 
lending to me a rod until I could get one, is one of the 
pleasant things I shall always retain in memory. 

To really enjoy fly-fishing one must be able to cast at 
least fairly well ; to cast a Tery long line is not at all 
important — to cast easily and gently is. Fifty to sixty 
feet is all that is necessary for practical purposes, the 
great majority of trout are taken within forty feet. 

It is not easy to tell one how to cast. The art must 
be acquired by practice. As I have said, much can be 
learned by observing an expert. There is one great 
mistake made by most beginners; i. e. t far too much 
strength is used. Let me suggest to the novice to 
begin with the line about the length of the rod ; learn 
to lay that out gently, and as you take your flies off the 



224 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

water, do it with a quick movement, decreasing the 
motion until your rod is at an angle of not quite forty- 
five degrees behind you, this angle to be varied accord- 
ing to circumstances which cannot be foreseen. Then 
the rod must come to a short pause, just long enough 
to allow the line and leader time to straighten out 
fairly, no more. Then the forward motion must be 
made with a degree of force and quickness in propor- 
tion to the length of line you have out, decreasing the 
force until the rod is about horizontal ; do not bring 
your rod to a sudden stop, or your line and your flies 
will come down w r ith a splash and all in a heap ; but 
lay your line out gently, my friend, and your flies will 
fall like snowflakes. It is not muscle but " gentle art " 
that is required. ' ' Take it easy " and keep trying. 

In an open space, from a boat for instance, take 
your flies very nearly straight off the water ; never 
dropping the point of your rod much to the right, 
as this leaves your line on the water and makes it hard 
to lift. Take your flies up with a quick movement, 
nearly vertical, and wait for them to straighten and 
cast again directly towards the point to which you wish 
them to go. 

After you have acquired the skill to cast straight 
"before you will be time enough for you to practise side 
casts, under casts, etc., that you will have to use where 
there are obstacles before and behind you. The same 
movements to cast and retrieve your lines, will apply 
under all circumstances, whether in open water or on 



SUGGESTIONS, 225 

streams overhung with trees, or fringed with bushes. 
Much vexatious catching of flies may be avoided by 
not being too eager, and by not using too long a line. 
Let me add — just before your flies touch the water, draw 
back your rod slightly and gently; this will straighten the 
line, and your flies will fall exactly where you want them. 

Cast your flies so that they fall as lightly as possible, 
with your leader extended to its full length; then draw 
your flies in the direction you wish, being careful not to 
draw them too far, or you will have trouble in retriev- 
ing your line for another cast. With your rod too 
perpendicular you cannot lift your line quickly enough 
to carry it back with sufficient force to straighten it 
out, and your next cast will be a failure. There is also 
much clanger of breaking your rod. Usually you will 
get your rise just an instant after your flies touch the 
water, or before you have drawn them more than a 
little distance. It is better to cast often and draw your 
flies back just far enough so that you can easily lift your 
line for another cast. Moreover, with your rod too 
perpendicular it is not easy to hook your fish ; so cast 
often and cover all parts of the pool. 

I think most skilful fly-fishers draw their flies with 
a slightly tremulous motion, to make the flies imitate 
the struggles of an insect, and I believe it to be a good 
method. It certainly is not objectionable, and you will 
find it can be done without thought ; the habit once 
formed and it will be difficult for you to draw your 
flies otherwise. 
15 



226 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

The instant you see a rise at one of your flies, strike 
quickly, but not too strongly, nor with a long j3ull, but 
with a short, sharp motion, not too strong or long 
enough to raise even a small fish from the water, but 
just enough to drive the hook firmly in. This may be 
done by an upward and inward motion, or a side motion, 
as circumstances may dictate. A slight turn of the 
wrist is often all that is required ; but if you have a 
long line out, you will have to use your arm and more 
force. Your fish hooked, keep him well in hand ; don't 
give him any more line than is necessary. When he is 
determined to run, let him do so ; but keep your fingers 
on the line and put all the strain on him you safely can, 
increasing the strain the further he goes. Turn him 
as soon as possible, and the instant you have done so, 
begin to reel him in. When he runs again, repeat the 
dose and get his head out of the water a little as soon 
as you dare. This exhausts him quickly. Don't raise 
him too far out of the water, or in his struggles he will 
break loose. 

Should a fish try to run under the boat, reel up until 
your line is no longer than your rod, or nearly so, then 
firmly guide him around the end — remembering always 
" it is skill against brute force." 

In stream-fishing, always wade if you can. When 
fishing from a boat never stand up if you can help it, but 
learn to cast sitting down. It is just as easy if you 
once learn how. On streams it is better to wade, be- 
cause your feet produce no jar for you cannot well raise 



SUGGESTIONS. 227 

them out of the water, and dare not often. And for 
various reasons a person alarms the fish less in wading 
than in fishing from the bank. 

Fish down stream always if possible. You can, in so 
doing, look over the pools and approach them to the 
best advantage. It is easier to wade with the current, 
and as you cast your flies you can let them float natu- 
rally for just an instant, without their being drawn 
under the surface. This instant is the time that, in a 
great majority of cases, you get your rise. Every one 
who has fished much with a fly knows how often he 
has whipped every inch of a pool and failed to get a 
rise where he was sure his flies could be seen from any 
part of it, and at last, when he placed his flies in one 
particular spot, his hopes were realized in an instant. 

Why did not the trout rise before ? Because he 
waited until his food came to him. 

In streams, especially, trout usually rise an instant 
after the flies touch the water, and I believe that trout 
in streams commonly wait for their food to come to 
them, and do not often dart out from where they are 
lying to any great distance, but wait until the fly 
comes nearly or quite over them, and then rise to the 
surface and take the fly with a snap and instantly turn 
head down to regain the position they had left. In 
doing this they often turn a somersault and throw 
themselves out of the water ; as they go over, their tails 
come down on the water with a splash, which some 
persons think is intentionally done to strike the fly or 



228 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

insect in order to kill or injure it and then afterwards 
capture it. Such persons fail to see the trout's head at 
all, for very often it barely comes to the surface, but 
the quick motion to go down throws the tail up and 
over — hence the error, as I consider it. Any one who will 
take the trouble to throw house flies to trout in an 
aquarium, will never again think trout strike their prey 
with their tails. 

The kinds of flies to be used vary with the locality, 
stream, state and stage of the water, weather, etc. The 
fly that pleased the fancy of the trout to-day — to-morrow 
perhaps in the same stream and under the same 
conditions, as far as any one could see, would fail. 
The only way is to keep trying until the one is found 
that does please. Don't change too often, but give 
each " cast " a fair trial. 

I do not believe in certain flies for certain months in 
the year. I have stood up to my knees in snow and 
taken trout, in mid-winter, with the same flies I had 
used in mid-summer. 

In low, clear water, especially in streams, small flies 
should be used. In higher water, larger flies are better, 
as a rule. When the water is high — as early in the 
season — larger and brighter-colored flies may be used to 
more advantage. Later, when the water is low and clear, 
smaller flies and more sober colors are best. I believe, 
however, that rules for the choice of flies have a great 
many exceptions, and the best rule I know of, is to 
keep trying different kinds and sizes until successful. 



SUGGESTIONS. 229 

It is often said, "there is no need of so great a variety 
of flies." I do not think this is true. Doubtless there 
are many styles that might well be dispensed with, but 
one never knows which to discard, and no man can 
tell him, for the very flies one man would say were 
worthless, another would consider the best — and prove 
it, jjlainly, by the success he had had with that very 
fly. So it is well to be provided with many kinds and 
sizes. I have learned of the merits of so many differ- 
ent kinds of flies that I sometimes think nearly all are 
good — at some time or under some circumstances. 
There is much doubt in my mind as to the neces- 
sity of having the artificial flies like the insects that are 
near or on the water. One of the best flies that has 
ever been known — the Coachman — does not in the 
least resemble any known insect, I believe — and but few 
of the many patterns made imitate anything in nature. 
The Cowdung fly, another one of the most " taking " 
flies — does very much resemble the natural fly of that 
name — but I never saw or heard of their being on or 
near the water. 

Early in the season, while the weather is yet cold, 
the middle of the day is usually quite as good, and I 
think the best time for fly-fishing. Later, in warm 
weather, the evening is the best, and often the last two 
hours of a pleasant day are worth all the rest of it. 

Generally speaking, a gentle southerly breeze is the 
most favorable wind ; yet I have had splendid sport 
during a strong north-easterly wind, but not often. 



230 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

In conclusion, be patient and iiersevering, move 
quietly, step lightly, keep as much out of sight of the 
fish as possible, and remember, trout are not feeding 
all the time. Perhaps during the last hour before dark 
you may fill your basket, that has been nearly empty 
since noon. Don't give up, as long as you can see 
— or even after — and you may when about to despair 
take some fine large fish. 

Unless one can enjoy himself fishing with the fly, even 
when his efforts are unrewarded, he loses much real 
pleasure. More than half the intense enjoyment of fly- 
fishing is derived from the beautiful surroundings, the 
satisfaction felt from being in the open air, the new 
lease of life secured thereby, and the many, many 
pleasant recollections of all one has seen, heard and 
done. 



BASS F1LIE S 




Made by C.F.ORVIS. Manchester, Vt. 



CO PYR I G H TED 



" Doubt not, therefore, sir, but that angling is an art, and an 
art worth your learning ; the question is, rather, whether you be 
capable of learning it, for angling is somewhat like poetry, men 
are to be born so : I mean with inclinations to it, though both 
may be heightened by discourse and practice ; but he that hopes 
to be a good angler must not only bring an inquiring, searching, 
observing wit, but he must bring a large measure of hope and 
patience, and a love and propensity to the art itself ; but having 
once got and practised it, then doubt not bat angling will prove 
to be so pleasant that it will prove to be like virtue, a reward to 
itself." — Izaak Walton. 

" The black bass are unquestionably as fine a fish for angling 
purposes as any we possess, and as an article of food are equal to 
our best." — Parker Gilmore, 



i. Cheney. 


2. 


White Miller. 


3. La Belle. 


4- 


Scarlet Ibis. 


5. Shad-Fly. 


6. 


Green and Gold. 



"Never use too much power in casting ; it is not only not 
necessary, but it is injurious. You cast the line with the top and 
half the second joint, and very little force suffices to bring this 
into play. If you use more, all the effect is to bring the lower part 
of the rod into action, which has very little spring compared with 
the top of it." — Francis Francis. 

" Although trout are taken with numerous - ;id angle 

worms, still *■» ^uently all these will fail, an 1 t .ant colored 

imitation ,± .-. fly will lure them, and herein h ly consists the 
science of tne fisherman, in judging what style <■*. fly is appropri- 
ate to a peculiar sta^e of the atmosphere • >r j ^ality. " i\ Ztobin- 
son Warren. 

" Black bass when struck and played will always head down 
stream." — W. C. Harris. 





" Fish always lose by being ' got in and dressed. ' It is best to 
weigh them w r hile they are in the water. The only really large 
one I ever caught got away with my leader when I first struck 
him. He weighed ten pounds." — Charles Dudley Warner. 

" The aim of the angler ought to be, to have his artificial fly 
calculated, by its form and colors, to attract the notice of the fish ; 
in which case he has a much greater chance of success, than by 
making the greatest efforts to imitate any particular species of fly.'' 
— Professor Rennie. 

"I fear it will be almost deemed heresy to place the black bass 
on a par with the trout ; at least, some such idea I had when I 
first heard the two compared ; but I am bold, and will go further. 
I consider he is the superior of the two, for he is equally good as 
an article of food, and much stronger and untiring in his efforts 
to escape when hooked." — Parker Oilmore. 

" The one great ingredient in successful fly-fishing is patience. 
The man whose fly is always on the water has the best chance. 
There is always a chance of a fish or two, no matter how hopeless 
it looks. You never know what may happen in fly-fishing." — 
Francis Francis. 

" In bass fishing we have thought the moon to be an advantage. 
If it does not guide the prey to the lure, it at least lends beauty 
to the scene and bathes in its pale light the surroundings of the 
fisherman, which are often so exceedingly beautiful. In addition, 
it assists him in his work and enables him to handle his tackle 
more easily and play his fish more comfortably." — Seth Green. 



THE KESOUKCES OF FLY-FISHING. 

BY 

DR. JAMES A. HENSHALL. 



The charms of fly-fishing have been sung in song and 
story from time immemorial by the poetically gifted 
devotees of the gentle art, who have embalmed the 
memory of its aesthetic features in the living green of 
graceful ferns, in the sweet-scented flowers of dell and 
dingle, and in the liquid music of purling streams. 

The fly-fisher is a lover of Nature, pure and simple, 
and has a true and just appreciation of her poetic side, 
though he may lack the artist's skill to limn her beau- 
ties, or the poet's genius to describe them. 

" To him who in the love of Nature holds 
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks 
A various language." 

And what delightful converse she holds with the fly- 
fisher, as with rod and creel he follows the banks of the 
meandering stream, or wades its pellucid waters, casting, 
ever and anon, the gossamer leader and feathery lure into 
shadowy nooks, below sunny rapids, over foam-flecked 
eddies, and on silent j^ools. She speaks to him through 
the rustling leaves, murmurs to him from the flowing 



234 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

stream, and sighs to him in the summer breeze. She is 
Yocal in a myriad of voices, and manifest in innumera- 
ble ways. 

The still fisher, reclining on the mossy bank, is dis- 
posed to dreamy reveries, to pleasant fancies ; but the 
fly-fisher, with quickened senses, has an ear for every 
sound, an eye for every object, and is alive to every 
motion. He hears the hum of the bee, the chirp of the 
cricket, the twitter of the sparrow, the dip of the swal- 
low ; he sees the gay butterfly in its uncertain flight, the 
shadow of the drifting cloud, the mossy rock, the modest 
violet, the open-eyed daisy ; he is conscious of the pass- 
ing breeze, of the mellow sunlight, of the odors of the 
flowers, of the fragrance of the fields. Nothing escapes 
his keen notice as he casts his flies, hither and yon, in 
the eager expectation of a rise. 

Fly-fishing is, indeed, the poetry of angling. The 
capture of the salmon is an epic poem, the taking of the 
trout an idyl. But it is not my presunif)tuous purpose 
to ring the changes on the delights of salmon or trout 
fishing, for they have been immortalized by the pens of 
gifted anglers for ages. My feeble effort would be but a 
sorry imitation of those glorious sjnrits who have made 
their last cast, who have crossed to the other side of the 
river, and 

" Gone before 
To that unknown and silent shore." 

So, leaving the salmon, the trout, and the grayling to 
their well-earned laurels, I wish to say a word for several 



THE RE 80 URCES OF FL T-FISHING. 235 

less pretentious, because less known, game-fishes, whose 
merits are perhaps as great for the fly-fisher as those fa- 
miliar game-beauties of the waters. 

It is among the possibilities, in this world of transitory 
things, that fly-fishing for the salmonids in the United 
States will, in the near future, be known only by tradi- 
tion. It should, therefore, be a source of great consola- 
tion to the fly-fisher to know that there are now, and 
perhaps will ever be, in the streams and lakes of this 
broad land, percoid game-fishes equally worthy of his 
skill, which require only to be known to be properly 
appreciated. 

First among these is the black bass, which already 
ranks the brook trout in the estimation of those anglers 
who know him best : and when I say black bass, I in- 
clude both species. The black bass is, at least, the peer 
of the trout in game qualities, and in rising to the ar- 
tificial fly, under proper conditions. An allusion to a 
few of these conditions may not seem out of place. 

As a rule, the best time of day for fly-fishing for the 
black bass is from an hour before sunset until dark, 
though there are times when he will rise to the fly at 
almost any hour of the day. 

It is important that the angler keep out of sight, and 
that the shadow of his rod be not disclosed to the wary 
and suspicious bass ; for if he sees either, he will not 
notice the flies, however skillfully and coaxingly they 
maybe cast. Thus it is that the earlier and later hours 
of the day are best ; the angler, facing the sun, the 



236 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

shadows are cast far behind him ; or, before sunrise or 
after sunset, or on cloudy days, the shadows are not so 
apparent, and the bass are more apt to rise. If the fly- 
fisher for black bass will faithfully follow these precau- 
tions, he will not be disappointed at the result. 

There is another condition, equally important, that 
must ever be borne in mind : The black bass will rise 
to the fly only in comparatively shallow water, say from 
one to six feet in depth. This is a feature often over- 
looked by many fly-fishers in their first experiences in 
black bass fishing. They seem to think that he should 
rise to the fly in any situation where he can be taken 
with bait ; but a moment's consideration will show this 
to be fallacious. A brook trout will take a bait twenty 
feet below the surface, but will not rise to a fly from 
the same depth. Trout streams are generally shallow, 
while the salmon swims very near the surface ; thus it 
is that the angler is seldom disappointed in their rising 
to the fly. On the other hand, the black bass, while 
inhabiting larger and deeper streams, is, unlike the 
trout, a great rover, or forager, frequenting both deep 
and shallow waters. As a rule, he is in shallow water 
early in the season, retiring to the depths in the hottest 
weather ; again appearing on the shallows in the fall, 
and in winter seeking the deepest water to be found. 
Trout inhabiting deep ponds and lakes rise to the fly 
only when in comparatively shallow water, or when near 
the surface. The fly-fisher, therefore, must expect to 
be successful only when the proper conditions exist. I 



TEE RESO URCES OF FL Y-FISHING. 237 

would like to pursue this subject further, but in so brief 
an article as this, only the most general and important 
features can be noticed. 

Any good trout fly-rod, from ten to eleven feet kmg, 
and from eight to nine ounces in weight, will answer for 
black bass fishing ; the heavier rod to be used only where 
the bass run quite large, averaging three pounds or 
more. The best line is one of braided silk, tapered, 
waterproof, and polished. The leader should be six feet 
of strong single gut, and but two flies should be used in 
the cast. As to flies, the angler must take his choice. ' 
My experience has led me to confine myself to a dozen 
varieties for black bass fishing, and they are usually, 
though not always, best in the order named : Polka, 
King of the Waters, Professor, Oriole, Grizzly King, 
Coachman, Henshall, Oconomowoc, Red Ibis, Lord 
Baltimore, White and Ibis, and the various hackles 
(palmers), the best being the brown. The Abbey, or 
Soldier, may often be substituted for the King of the 
Waters, being similar in appearance, and others may 
be substituted in like manner for several in the 
above list. 

The Polka, Oriole, Oconomowoc and Henshall, are 
flies of my own designing, and are usually very killing, 
especially the Polka. Their construction is as follows : 

Polka. — Body, scarlet, gold twist ; hackle, red ; 
wings black with white spots (guinea fowl) ; tail, 
brown and white, mixed. 

Oriole. — Body, black, gold tinsel ; hackle, black ; 



238 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

wings, yellow or orange ; tail, black and yellow, 
mixed. 

Ocokomowoc. — Body, creamy yellow ; hackle, white 
and dun (deer's tail) ; tail, ginger ; wings, cinnamon 
(woodcock). 

Henshall. — Body, peacock herl ; hackle, white 
hairs from deer's tail ; wings, light drab (dove) ; tail, 
two or three fibres of peacock's tail-feather. 

The Lord Baltimore fly originated with Prof. Alfred 
M. Mayer, of the Stevens Institute of Technology, Ho- 
boken, New Jersey, its formula being as follows : 

Lord Baltimore. — Body, orange ; hackle, tail, and 
wings black, with small upper wings of jungle-cock. 

Professor Mayer and myself, being natives of Balti- 
more, designed, unknown to each other, a fly to embody 
the heraldic colors of Lord Baltimore and the coat of 
arms of Maryland — black and orange. He named his 
fly, "Lord Baltimore," while mine I designated the 
" Oriole," from the Baltimore oriole, or hanging bird, 
which beautiful songster was named in honor of Lord 
Baltimore, its colors being black and orange. 

Black bass flies should not be too large, nor yet too 
small, the largest brook trout flies being about the right 
size. They should be tied on Sproat or O'Shaughnessy 
hooks, the first-named being the best, from JSTos. 2 
to 5. In the above list of flies, most of them are 
"general" flies, one of which, at least, can be used in 
the cast under almost any circumstances. The darkest 
ones are best for bright days and clear water, the 



THE RESO TJRCES OF FL Y-FISHmG. 239 

brighter ones for dark days or high water, and the 
lightest ones, e. g.. Coachman and White and Ibis, after 
sundown. 

There are several other inland fishes belonging to the 
same family (Centr arch ides) as the black bass, which, 
though generally lightly esteemed, are good pan-fishes, 
are quite gamy, will rise eagerly to the fly, and in the 
absence of more desirable fishes, afford good sport to the 
fly-fisher with light and suitable tackle. 

The Rock Bass {Ambloplites rupestris), sometimes 
called " Red-eye," is well-known west of the Allegha- 
nies. Its color is olive-green, with dark mottled mark- 
ings and brassy and coppery reflections. The iris of the 
eye is scarlet. The dorsal fin has eleven spines and 
eleven soft rays ; anal fin, six spines and ten soft rays. 
It has a large mouth, rises well to the fly, and when it 
attains its maximum weight of a pound or two, fights 
vigorously on a six-ounce fly-rod and light tackle. Any 
of the "general " trout flies, tied on Sproat hooks, Nos. 
5 to 7, will answer for rock bass. 

The Calico Bass (Pomoxys sparoicles), variously 
known as "Northern Croppie," "Strawberry Bass," 
"Grass Bass," "Silver Bass," "Chincapin Perch," 
etc., is a very handsome fish, bright green and silvery, 
with purplish reflections, and numerous dark spots or 
blotches. The fins are also much mottled, especially 
the anal fin. It has a smaller mouth, and is not quite 
so gamy as the rock bass, but is, withal, a great fa- 
vorite with many anglers. The radial formula of its 



240 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

fins are : Dorsal, seven spines, fifteen soft rays ; anal, 
six spines, eighteen soft rays. 

The Southern" Croppie (Pomoxys annularis) is 
also called "Bachelor," "Tin-mouth," "Speckled- 
perch," "New-light," "Campbellite," etc. It is closely 
allied to the last-named species, but is not quite so deep 
in body, and has a larger, thinner, and more delicate 
mouth. It is also much lighter in color, olivaceous, 
and silvery, sometimes quite pale, with much smaller 
spots, and the anal fin is pale and scarcely marked. Its 
dorsal fin has but six spines, and fifteen soft rays ; anal 
fin, six spines, eighteen rays. Both the "Croppies" 
have large anal fins, fully as large as the dorsals. They 
grow to two or three pounds in weight, usually swim in 
schools, and lurk about logs, brush, or fallen trees, under 
dams, etc. They give fair sport on a five-ounce rod. 
Trout flies of subdued tints should be used for croppies, 
as the gray, brown and red hackles, gray drake, brown 
drake, stone fly, black gnat, blue dun, etc. 

The Black Sunfish (Clmnobryttus gulosus), known 
in the South as the " War-mouth Perch," is more nearly 
related to the black bass than any other member of the 
family in its large mouth, the radial formula of its fins, 
and to some extent in its coloration ; it also partakes of 
the gamy nature of the black bass to no inconsiderable 
degree. Its color is dark olive-green on the back, the 
sides lighter, with blotches of blue and coppery red, the 
belly brassy or yellowish ; iris red ; ear-flap black, bor- 
dered with pale red. It has teeth on the tongue. Dorsal 



THE RESOURCES OF FLY-FISHING. 241 

fin, ten spines, nine soft rays ; anal, three spines, eight 
rays. With a six-ounce fly-rod, and any of the flies 
named for black bass, the fly-fisher will find this fish 
worthy of his steel, as it grows to two pounds in 
weight. 

The Blue Sunfish (Lejoomis pallidus) is a very 
common and widely-diffused species. In the South, it 
is known as the " Blue Bream," and " CojDper-nosed 
Bream." Its mouth is quite small. In color it is oliva- 
ceous or bluish-green, with a distinct dusky spot on the 
last rays of dorsal and anal fins. The dorsal has ten 
spines, eleven rays ; anal, three spines and ten soft rays. 
It is closely allied to the following species. 

The Long-eared Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis), or 
" Red-bellied Bream," or " Red-bellied Perch," of the 
Southwest, is one of the handsomest sunfishes. Its 
color is bluish on the back, with the belly red or orange ; 
cheeks with blue and red stripes ; colors very brilliant ; 
iris bright red ; ear-flap very large, black, with pale 
border. Dorsal fin with ten spines, ten soft rays ; anal, 
three spines, ten rays. Both this and the last-named 
species are quite wary, very gamy, and are greatly es- 
teemed by Southern anglers, and not without reason. 
When they reach a pound or two in weight they furnish 
excellent sport on a five-ounce rod. Any of the trout- 
flies of gay patterns, as Red Ibis, White and Ibis, 
Professor, Grizzly King, etc., on Sproat hooks, Nos. 8 to 
10, will answer, if the day be not too bright, in which 
event less showy flies should be used. As a rule, any of 
16 



242 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

the hackles (palmers), are good flies for these or any 
fishes of this family. 

The striped-bass group, or sub-family (Labracince), 
is composed of some of our best game-fishes. They will 
all rise to the fly, but more especially the fresh water 
species. Those of the coast, the striped-bass or rock- 
fish (Roccus Mneatus), and the white perch (Roccus 
americanus), when they enter brackish and fresh-water 
streams, are frequently taken with a gaudy fly. 

The White Bass (Roccus chrysops), also called 
" Striped Lake Bass," and " Fresh- water Striped Bass," 
is a well-known game-fish of the great lakes and Upper 
Mississippi Valley, and is rightly held in much favor 
by western anglers. Its color is silvery, darker above, 
with a number of dark stripes along the sides, four or 
five being above the lateral line. The mouth is large. 
There are two distinct dorsal fins, being entirely sepa- 
rated. The first dorsal has nine spines ; the second 
dorsal, one spine and fourteen soft rays ; anal fin has 
three spines and twelve soft rays. A patch of teeth on 
base of tongue. Its usual weight is one to three pounds, 
though it is occasionally taken up to four or five 
pounds. It is good game, rises well to the fly, and on 
a six or seven-ounce rod is capable of giving fine sport. 

The Yellow Bass (Roccus interruptus), or "Bras- 
sy Bass," or " Short Striped Bass" takes the place of 
the white bass in the Lower Mississippi Valley, and is 
closely allied to it, though it usually does not grow so 
large by a pound or two. It has a smaller mouth, and 



THE BESO URGES OF FL Y- FISHING. 243 

has no teeth on the base of its tongue. Its color is 
brassy, olivaceous above, with seven very black stripes 
along its sides. The dorsal fins are somewhat connected 
at the base. First dorsal has nine spines ; second dor- 
sal has one spine and twelve soft rays ; anal fin, three 
spines, nine soft rays. Any of the flies recommended 
for the black bass, though made smaller and tied on 
Sproat hooks, Nos. 4 to 6, will be found excellent for 
the white and yellow bass. 

In the perch family (Percidce) are several species 
that are excellent for the table, and not to be despised 
as game-fishes. The most commonly known is 

The Yellow Perch (Perca americana), which in- 
habits most of the waters of the Northwest and East, 
being found in both fresh and brackish waters. In 
color it is dark olive with yellow sides, and some half- 
dozen dark vertical bars ; upper fins, dusky yellowish ; 
lower fins, reddish. Mouth moderate in size. First 
dorsal fin has thirteen spines ; second dorsal, one spine 
and thirteen soft rays ; anal, two spines, eight soft rays. 
It grows usually to a pound, though sometimes to 
double that weight. It rises pretty well at times, to a 
small gaudy fly, and on a five-ounce rod will give con- 
siderable sport to the angler. 

The Pike-Perch (Stizosteclium vitreum) f likewise 
known as " "Wall-eyed Pike," " Glass Eye," and in some 
waters called "Salmon," and in Canada known as 
"Pickerel," is a fine table fish, growing occasionally 
to fifteen or twenty, and even to forty pounds, though 



244 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

its usual weight is from four to six pounds. Its color 
is a greenish-olive, mottled with brassy yellow ; it has 
a large black spot on the first dorsal fin. Eye large. 
First dorsal fin has thirteen sjmies ; second dorsal, two 
spines and twenty soft rays ; anal, two spines, twelve 
rays. 

There is a much smaller variety of this species (var. 
salmoneum), which grows to but two or three pounds. 
It has a larger eye. Its color is bluer, or greener than 
the above, and not so brassy. First dorsal has four- 
teen spines ; second dorsal, one spine, twenty soft rays; 
anal fin, two spines, thirteen soft rays. 

Both of these fishes, together with the next-named, 
are hard-pulling, vigorous fishes on the rod, though 
they do not exhibit much dash or take much line. They 
swim away rather slowly, but are constantly jerking, 
tugging and pulling on the line in such a way as to 
compel the angler to handle them carefully to preserve 
his tackle intact. They are regarded with much favor 
by anglers in the West and Northwest. The same tackle 
is used as for black bass. 

The Saugee (Stizostedium canadense) is also called 
"Jack," "Sand-pike," "Gray-pike," and "Rattle- 
snake-pike." It is closely related to the foregoing 
species, though smaller, growing to a length of twelve 
to fifteen inches. It is longer and rounder in propor- 
tion than any of the pike-perches, with a more pointed 
head and smaller eye. Its color is paler, grayish above, 
with brassy sides, which are marked by several blackish 



THE RESOURCES OF FLY-FISHING. 245 

blotches or patches. First dorsal fin has two or three 
rows of round black spots. First dorsal has twelve 
spines ; second dorsal, one spine, seventeen soft rays ; 
anal, two spines, twelve soft rays. 

Both species of pike-perch are nocturnal (the last not 
so much so), and are very similar in their habits. 
Usually they rise best to the fly at sundown, contin- 
uing until late in the evening, .especially on moonlight 
nights ; therefore at least one fly in the cast should be 
some light-colored fly, as the Coachman, White and 
Ibis, or Miller. Sometimes, however, darker flies are 
just as good after nightfall as during daylight. The 
flies for pike-perch should be as large or larger than 
bass flies, and should be tied on Sproat hooks, Nos. 1 
to 3. 

The angler who is so unfortunately situated as to be 
debarred from salmon, trout, or black bass fly-fishing, 
can always find in the small streams or ponds near 
him, one or more of the fishes described in the forego- 
ing account, when, by the use of very light and suitable 
tackle, he can enjoy to a great degree the delights and 
pleasures of fly-fishing. 

Even the despised pike or pickerel species (Fsocidce) 
and some of the catfishes will rise to a large and gaudy 
fly. In Florida I have taken catfish with the artificial 
fly until my arms ached and I was fain to cry quits. I 
have also taken many marine species with the fly, as 
red-fish, blue-fish, sea-trout, snappers, groupers, cre- 
valle, bone-fish, snooks, etc., etc., and once, as a matter 



246 FISHING WITH TEE FLY. 

of experiment, a five-foot alligator. The 'gator was 
taken with a "fly " tied on a shark-hook, the hackled 
body being a squirrel's tail, with wings of a small sea- 
gull. The rod, used on that occasion only, was alight 
pine sprit (belonging to the sail of a small boat), fifteen 
feet in length, an inch and a half in diameter at the 
centre and tapering to an inch at each end. 

Thus it will be seen that the opportunities and re- 
sources for fly-fishing are nearly as great as for bait- 
fishing, and that it only remains for the angler to take 
advantage of them, study the habits of the fishes, at- 
tain the necessary skill in casting, and practice due 
caution in fishing. 



B.A S S FLIE S. 




Made by C F.ORVIS. Manchester. Vt 






COPYRIGHTED 



" All the charm of the angler's life would be lost but for these 
hours of thought and memory. All along a brook, all day on 
lake or river, while he takes his sport, he thinks. All the long 
evenings in camp, or cottage, or inn, he tells stories of his own 
life, hears stones of his friends' lives, and if alone calls up the 
magic of memory." — W. C. Prime. 

"It is a mooted question among the very best 'fly-fishers,' 
whether an exact representation of the living insect is neces- 
sary to insure success in angling with the fly. The Scotch flies 
are not imitations of living insects ; and the best anglers in 
that country maintain the opinion that it is absolutely useless and 
unnecessary to imitate any insect either winged or otherwise."— 
" Frank Forester." 



7. Henshall. 8. " Oconomowoc." 

9. Oriole. 10. Polka, 

n. Ondawa. 12. "W. T." 

" Sometimes, of course, the loss of fish, or even fish and tackle, 
cannot be avoided : but good, careful work and the best materials 
will frequently obviate so annoying an ordeal. However, having 
struck your fish, the tackle and your own coolness are generally 
responsible for the issue, and woe betide you if careless knot or 
indifferent tying should have been made in constructing your 
leader or fly."— Parker Gilmore. 

"It is well known that no person who regards his reputation 
will ever kill a trout with anything but a fiy. It requires some 
training on the part of the trout to take to this method. The 
uncultivated, unsophisticated trout in unfrequented waters pre- 
fers the bait ;• and the rural people, whose sole object in going a- 
fishing appears to be to catch fish, indulge them in their primi- 
tive taste for the worm. No sportsman, however, will use any- 
thing but a fly, except he happens to be alone."— Charles Dudley 
Warner. 



"The true fly- fisher, who practises his art con amove, does not 
delight in big catches, nor revel in undue and cruel slaughter. 
He is ever satisfied with a moderate creel, and is content with the 
scientific and skilful capture of a few good fish. The beauties of 
nature, as revealed in his surroundings — the sparkling water, the 
shadow and sunshine, the rustling leaves, the song of birds and 
hum of insects, the health-giving breeze — make up to him a 
measure of true enjoyment, and peace, and thankfulness, that is 
totally unknown to the slaughterer of the innocents, whose sole 
ambition is to fill his creel and record his captures by the score." 
— James A. Henshall, 31. D. 

"In the fly book the sportsman collects his treasures — the 
fairy imitations of the tiny nymphs of the water side— and it is 
the source of much delight in inspecting, replenishing and ar- 
ranging during the season that the trout are safe from honorable 
pursuit." — R. B. Roosevelt. 

" There have been caught in Walden, pickerel, one weighing 
seven pounds, to say nothing of another which carried off a reel* 
with great velocity, which the fisherman safely set down at eight 
pounds, because he did not see him. I am thus particular, be- 
cause the weight of a fish is commonly its only title to fame." — 
Henry D. Thoreau. 

" Wet days in camp try 'grit.' ' Clear grit ' brightens more 
crystalline the more it is rained upon ; sham grit dissolves into 
mud and water." — Theodore Winthrop. 



WINTER ANGLING. 

BY 
FRANK S. PINCKNEY. 



The best winter angling is to be had in that charm- 
ing interval between the hallowed old holidays and that 
sloppy period which, of late years, heralds the slow 
approach of spring in these our latitudes. 

The practice of angling at this season of the year for 
large trout, immense black bass and preternatural 
mascalonge, has grown of late to proportions which 
seem to warrant some special mention of so delightful, 
if unseasonable, a sport, as well as some brief descrip- 
tion of the tackle and paraphernalia required for its 
fullest enjoyment. 

To the winter angler a first-class outfit is of prime 
importance. The poles should be of well-seasoned 
hickory or hard maple, from eight to ten inches in 
diameter, in sections about three feet in length. These 
need not to be divested of their rich covering of bark, 
curved, bronzed and lichened, but should be fitted, 
fresh from the sheltered pile, with careful skill into an 
old-fashioned open fire-place, about which, in years 
agone, the angling forefathers of the angler of to-day 
told marvellous tales of deeds of " derring do " with 



250 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

"dipseys," bobs and poles; and about which now Ms 
children list with wonder, not unmingled with some 
tinge of incredulity, to his yet more wondrous recitals 
of brave contests and curious captures with dainty rods 
and delicate reels. 

The winter angler's wading shoes may be made of 
any soft material that will protect his feet should they 
chance to slip from the old brass fender down upon 
the sombre painted brick hearth below, during some 
delicious drowse. Most anglers have lady friends — 
fair cousins and others, who make them nicely with 
substantially embroidered lily-pads and firm strong 
rosebuds and vigorous elastic daffadowndillys. These 
are a good protection — but the soles ? 

Two dollars and a half, without hob nails, and no 
deduction for small feet ! Even winter angling has 
its drawbacks. 

The winter angler's fishing coat should be warmly 
quilted to protect him from the cold, and may be of a 
color to suit his complexion if he has one. It should 
be given him by his wife or " ladye faire " as a sample 
of her skill in manipulating the needle and — the dress- 
maker. 

As to the kind of lure required, much must depend 
upon the taste of the individual angler, but it certainly 
ought to be hot and not have too much water in it. 

For protection against black flies, midgets and 
mosquitoes he may, if he likes, smear his face and 
hands with oils either of tar or of pennyroyal, or he 



WINTER ANGLING. 251 

may build a "smudge" on the library table, but the 
most successful winter anglers I know use for this 
purpose a hollow tube of convenient length with a 
bowl at one end and a set of teeth, either real or 
artificial, at the other. The bowl may be filled with 
any harmless weed capable of burning slowly as, for 
example, tobacco. As a rule, one of these will answer 
the purpose, but if the flies are especially troublesome, 
or the angler should chance to be bald-headed, he may 
be forced to ask a brother angler to come to his assist- 
ance with a contrivance of a similar nature. Together 
they will probably be able to defy all attacks of the 
black flies or even the blues. 

As to creels (or baskets) the merest mention will 
suffice. At the nearest newspaper office will be found 
one of suitable size and fair proportions. It is called 
a "waste basket" and is specially constructed to hold 
Ibhe abnormal catches made by winter anglers. 

Possibly the highest charm of winter angling (or as 
some call it "Fireside Fishing") is the grand wide 
ranging freedom of it. Three vast realms are at one's 
command. The realm of Memory, with its myriad 
streams of recollection filled with the fish and fancies of 
the Past. The realm of Anticipation bright with 
golden dreams of the coming open season, and lastly 
the realm of Pure Lying, wherein from the deep, dark 
pools of his own inner turpitude the angler at each 
cast hooks a speckled-sided Hallucination (Sahno 
HulIucio?iidus), a large-mouthed Prevarication (Jli- 



252 FISHING WITH TEE FLY. 

cropterus Prevaricatrix), or a silver-gleaming False- 
hood {Salmoides Falsus), each more huge than the 
other, and all "beating the record" quite out of the 
field.* 

What wonderful vistas, what remotely narrowing per- 
spectives, stretch away into the vague distances of the 
first two of these grand realms ! How far reachingly the 
life-lines of anglers uncoil in both directions from the 
reel of time — "playing" the hoarded treasures of 
memory at one end, and making tournament casts into 
the future with the other ! Are not the time-worn rod- 
case and the well-thumbed fly-book and note-book on 
his table, side by side with the last daintily tapered 
product of his plane, rasp and scraper — his rod, just 
finished for the coming summer — which, perchance for 
him may never come ? 

Is he not at once revelling in the past and dreaming 
of the future ? 

There is no sport, when known in all its branches, 
that is so fully an all-the-year-round delight as is 
angling. 

Many an idle hour of the long winter evenings may 
be pleasantly passed by the angler in "going over" 
his tackle, oiling his reels, airing his lines, and re-ar- 
ranging his flies, freeing them from the moth and rust 
that do corrupt. He is but a slovenly worshipper at the 



•* Note— The writer respectfully submits this nomenclature to 
revision by Dr. Henshall, an unquestioned authority. 



WINTER ANGLING. 253 

shrine of the good Saint Izaak, who casts aside his 
panoply after the last bout of autumn and gives no 
thought to it again till spring makes her annual jail- 
delivery of imprisoned life. Constant care of the be- 
longings of his art, be he fly or bait fisher, is character- 
istic of the faithful angler, and only simple justice 
to the tackle maker. There is nothing sadder or more 
dejected-looking than a crippled rod and a neglected 
"kit" full of snarled lines, rusty hooks, and moth- 
eaten flies. 

In the matter of winter angling, the fly-fisherman 
has a decided advantage over him who uses bait alone. 
The art for him has more side issues. He may, if he 
can, learn to tie flies or contrive and construct new- 
fangled fly-books. The effort to learn will probably 
ruin his temper and break up his domestic relations if 
he has any, but it is not for me to say that "lejeu ne 
vaut pas la cliandelle." If no domestic ties trend him 
toward caution as yet, and he dreads none in the 
future, he may even venture the attempt to make his 
own rods. 

Let me say a word here of amateur tackle-making 
from the standpoint of personal experience. It is 
agreeable — it is even fascinating, but it does not pay; 
very few have the mechanical deftness, the patience, 
taste, and judgment combined to really excel in any of 
its branches. No young man with a career to make 
for himself by dint of constant toil or close application 
to a business or profession has any right to devote to 



25-i FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

these arts the time and attention they demand if even 
a fair degree of skill is to be attained. For the angler 
of " elegant leisure v this has no weight perhaps, but 
he too will, as a rule, find better tackle than he can 
make, readily at his command at a cost so inconsider- 
able as to quite justify me in saying that his amateur 
work will not pay — for, if he be young, out-of-door 
sports will far better serve to lay up in his still devel- 
oping frame the treasures of health and vitality for 
future use. There are those, indeed, for whom it is a 
proper employment of time and who are endowed with 
the peculiar faculties required. To such it is a charm- 
ing occupation, a delightful distraction, and a choice 
factor in the enjoyment of the winter angler by the 
fireside. 

Every angler ought to keep a record or diary of his 
angling bouts. Most anglers do so, I think. Therein 
should be recorded not only the weight and size of daily 
catch, the number saved, and the number thrown lack, 
(I look back with especial pride upon my record in this 
direction), but also some jottings of scenes, impressions, 
and incidents. Reading therefrom years after at the 
fireside he will detect a faint perfume of old forests in 
the winter air, and hear again in fancy the swirl of 
swift waters sweeping among mossy rocks. 

I take up my own, quoting from it almost at random. 
Note, if you please, how, in untamed words, have ex- 
pressed themselves the exhilaration of the stream — the 
tingling of healthy blood through ample veins — the joy 



WINTER ANGLING. 255 

in nature's aspects, and the delightful sense of unre- 
straint that comes only of fresh air, of wholesome ex- 
ercise, of angling. 

"May 20th. — * * * The streams hereabout lack 
two important elements which are the charm of my 
favorite kill, to ivit, picturesqueness and the pos- 
sibility of large trout — large, I mean, for our mountain 
brooks where still found au naturel. I went over the 
other day to Bright's Run. I don't know exactly 
where it is, and I consider it (next to Bright's disease 
of the kidneys) the very worst thing Bright has devel- 
oped. It is a stream such as might properly empty 
into the Dismal Swamp, and find itself quite at home 
there. It is totally devoid of romantic beauty — and 
nearly so of trout. I never worked so hard in my life 
for twenty-two little ones, that put me to the blush as 
I put them in the basket. I was perpetually in a row 
with the overhanging thickets and the underlying logs* 
and my thoughts were a monologue of exclamation 
points. I would not angle in Bright's turgid waters 
again for all the trout the most minute analysis might 
discover in them. 

" Yesterday I had a much more agreeable day without 
a seven-mile ride on a pesky buck-board. I went quite 
alone, up the Buckhill as far as the Fall. This is a 
pleasant stream full of Xature — and sawdust — with 
here and there a speckled trout and here and there a 
black snake. (By special permission of Mr. Tennyson.) 
There really are now and then cool little nooks which 



256 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

make one envy the trout ; and an occasional spring 
dripping with a fresh rat-tat-tat over rocks and moss 
and into one's whiskey in spite of all one can do. This 
sort of thing is what makes a trout-stream after all. 
You may catch a whale in a goose-pond but it isn't 
angling. To me much depends upon surroundings. I 
like to form a picturesque part of a picturesque whole. 
Even when there is no audience in the gallery. 

" Given, a dark glen fringed with pines that sigh and 
pine high up aloft — a pool whose sweep is deep, around 
which rocks in tiers, mossy as tombstones centuries 
old, bow their heads in mourning — heads crowned 
with weeds, and grave-mounds of mother earth, and 
pallid flowers, pale plants and sapless vines that struggle 
through shadows of a day in coma, laid in the hearse 
of night, without a proper permit, and I am happy. I 
don't know just why, but if I meet an undertaker I 
mean to ask him. All these deep, dark hiding spots of 
nature seem but so many foils to the keen sense of 
life and thrills of vitality that fill me. My nervous 
system sparkles against such sombre back-grounds. 

"Then, too, the Fall was lovely. Next to Niagara, 
the Kauterskill and Adams', this Buckhill Fall is one 
of the most successful, in a small way, that I know of. 
It might be bigger and higher and have twenty-five cents 
worth more water coming over it out of a dam ; but for 
a mere casual Fall gotten up inadvertently by nature, it 
is very good, in an amateurish sort of away, you know! 

" There is, I believe (hang it, there always is !) a ro- 



WINTER ANGLING. 25? 

mantic legend connected with — but stay ! — you already 
guess it. Big Buck Indian — years ago — in love with 
mother-in-law — commits suicide — jumps over the 
ledge — ever since on moonlight nights, water the color 
of blood (probably tannery just above the Fall), Buck 
Kill, now corrupted into Buckhill. In the march of 
civilization the last impedimenta to be left by the way- 
side are the beautiful superstitions of ignorance. 

" I am now quite alone here. A young music composer, 
hitherto my companion, left yesterday, so I am hand- 
cuffed to nature in solitary confinement. 

" By the way, my composer was a voluntary exile from 
the domestic arena. He had but recently married — to 
formulate it by proportions — say about a ton of mother- 
in-law to about an ounce of wife, and when the contest 
waxed fiercer than became the endurance of a sensitive 
nature, he packed his bag and came a-fishing. He was 
a capital angler — a phenomenal musician and had an 
appetite and digestion like one or more of the valiant 
trencher men of England's merrie days, so he solaced 
his grief with Sonatas and buckwheat cakes in the 
mornings and tears and ginger-bread in the evenings. 
He was a born genius and as beautiful as a dream, so I 
advised him to go home, choke his m-in-1, kiss his 
wife and live happily all the days of his life. I think 
he has gone to try the plan. 

" Speaking of buckwheat cakes, you can go out here 
most any time and catch a nice mess running about a 
half a pound and game all the way through. No ! No ! 
17 



258 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

I'm thinking of the trout ! I mean they are light as a 
feather, and taste to me just as did those I never had 
half enough of when I was a lad with my good old 
Presbyterian grandmother, who would not ' set ' the 
batter on Saturday night lest it 'should 'work' on the 
Sabbath. 

"Just here I wish to record an event which has hap- 
pened to me while yet each detail is fresh in my mem- 
ory. 

" The day had been showery, yet the fishing had been 
very poor, so I went at sunset to try my luck in the 
stream near the house, where are some fair pools and a 
semi-occasional trout. 

"The darkness had begun to gather, indeed it was so 
dark that J knew only by the instinct of habit where 
my flies fell upon the water, for I could not fairly see 
them. I had just made a cast across a little rock which 
protruded somewhat above the surface into a small pool 
behind, and was slowly drawing my line toward me, 
when I perceived a frog seated upon the rock, watching 
the proceedings with some apparent anxiety. Hardly 
had I made out his frogship in the gloaming, when 
pop ! he went into the water. ' Kerchung !' At this 
instant I felt a strike and returned the compliment 
sharply, so as to set my hook well in and make sure of 
my trout. He was very game, and I was obliged to ]olay 
him with a five and a half ounce rod for some time, but 
finally landed him in good form, only to discover that 
instead of a trout I had taken froggy on a black hackle 



WINTER ANGLING. 259 

fly, setting the hook firmly into the thin membrane 
which connects the two hind legs and just where the 
tail ought to be. This left him the fullest freedom of 
action and gave him so good a chance to fight me that 
I never suspected him of being anything less than a 
half-pounder. He must have jumped from the rock 
directly on to the fly trailing behind it and been thus 
hooked by my ' strike.' Mem. — This story is true as 
gospel, but better not tell it where you enjoy an excep- 
tional reputation for veracity. 

"July 10th. * * * Nothing has happened! Nothing 
ever does happen here. Delightful existence, free from 
events ! I remember hearing Homer Martin once say that 
it was the height of his artistic ambition to paint a picture 
without objects. The confounded objects, he said, al- 
ways would get wrong and destroy his best effects. How 
far this was intended to be a humorous paradox and how 
far the suggestion of an artistic ideal, I know not, but 
I surely somewhere have seen a painting — from whose 
brush I cannot say — which quite nearly fulfilled this 
strange condition. It represented an horizon, where 
met a cloudless, moonless, starless summer sky and a 
waveless, almost motionless sea — these and an atmos- 
phere. The effect was that one could hardly perceive 
where the sea ceased and the sky began. I wonder if 
it would not be thus with a life quite devoid of events 
— would one be able to distinguish such from Heaven ? 

" The charm of it is that it leaves both the physical 
and intellectual in one to develop freely. When a cow, 



260 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

grazing in a woodland pasture, comes at noonday to the 
brook to drink and then calmly and not without a cer- 
tain ungainly majesty of movement, crosses the deep 
pool and climbs the steej) bank on the other side, by no 
apparent motive urged save of her own sweet will, she 
always looks refreshed and filled in some sort with the 
stolid boyine expression of great contentment. Mark 
how different it all is when the same cow crosses the 
same brook driven by the barefooted urchin with a gad 
and shrill cries and a possible small dog in the back- 
ground. How wearily and breathlessly she wades, and 
with what distressful pantings she climbs, and how un- 
happy and enduring and long-suffering she appears, as 
you watch her shuffle away down the cow-path home- 
ward ! It's the Must that hurts. It's the barefooted 
urchin Necessity with his infernal gad Ambition and his 
ugly little cur dog Want, always chasing and shouting 
after one, that makes it so tiresome to cross the stream. 

" Then, too, as to the mind. Shall not one gain better 
intellectual growth when beyond the reach of the im- 
perial ukase of daily custom which fixes the mind upon 
and chains the tongue to some leading event of the 
passing hour ? 

" In swift and endless succession come foul murders, 
robberies, revolutions, sickening disasters, nameless 
crimes, and all the long list of events, and are as so 
many manacles upon the mind. 

" I hate Events. They bore me. All except taking 
a pound trout. 



WINTER ANGLING. 261 

"Alas ! what a rent these last words make in the bal- 
loon I have been inflating ! Logic (another troublesome 
nuisance, evolved, probably, at Hunter's Point) forces 
me from the clouds to earth and insists that I shall 
accept a trite aphorism : ' Little events fill little minds ; 
great events for big ones.' 

" Then if I take refuge in the cowardly device of say- 
ing I don't want a big mind, what becomes of my theory 
of intellectual development as the outgrowth of an 
eventless life ! 

" I decline to follow out more in detail this or any 
other line of argument. One can't argue in the face of 
such an event as the thermometer in the nineties away 
up here in the mountains. 

" This chance allusion to logic reminds me that I have 
recently heard from a dear old angling friend. He 
writes incidentally that since his return to his active pro- 
fessional duties he has made money enough to pay 
many times over the expenses of his recent two weeks' 
fishing bout with me. I have written him that he 
might find it well to start at once upon another trip. 
I have no doubt there exists a certain correlation of 
forces whereby a week's fishing, with its resultant in- 
crease of oxygenation, and rebuilding of gray tissue, 
accurately represents a certain amount of possible mental 
labor and thus, indirectly, a fixed sum of money. 

"It is then alarming to think how abnormally rich a 
man might become if he fished all the time." 

If I have thus quoted somewhat at length vaporings 



262 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

of other days from my note book it has been only to 
suggest to others, whose angling experiences are and 
have been wider and more varied than my own, how 
readily they can organize a " preserve " for winter 
angling. Believe me, no event, no feeling, no passing 
observation of your surroundings can be too trivial to 
record, and each written line will, in years to come, 
suggest a page of pleasant memories when as "Ness- 
muk " says — 

" The Winter streams are frozen 
And the Nor'west winds are out." 



B.A S S FLIE S 




Made by C F.ORVIS, Manchester. Vt 



COPYRIGHTED 



"Mr. Webster's sport of angling has given him many opportu- 
nities for composition, his famous address on Bunker Hill having 
been mostly planned out on Marshpee Brook ; and it is said that 
the following exclamation was first heard by a couple of huge 
trout immediately on their being transferred to his fishing-basket, 
as it subsequently was heard at Bunker Hill by many thousands 
of his fellow-citizens : ' Venerable men ! you have come down to 
us from a former generation. Heaven has bounteously lengthened 
out your lives that you might behold this joyous day.'" — Lan- 
man's Life of Webster. 

" Now, I love fishing dearly. There is no sport like it for me. 
but there is a vast deal in fishing besides catching fish." — H. H. 
Tlwmjpson. 



13. The Triumph. 14. Alexandra. 

15. Seth Green. 16. Jungle Cock. 

17. Fitz-Maurice. 18. Caddis. 

19. Davis. 



"When fish are basking during the mid-day hours in the hot 
summer months, they are not always to be drawn to the surface. 
But the eon -)ination more suitable for this method is the dressing 
known as the ' Alexandra Fly.' " — David Foster. 

" The exertion of crossing the Atlantic for fly-fishing will be 
amply repaid the sportsman by the quantity and weight of the 
fish he will capture ; for there the fish are not troubled with the 
fastidiousness of appetite which in Great Britain causes it always 
to be a source of doubt whether the water is in proper order, the 
wind in the east, or thunder overhead, either of which, or all 
combined, too frequently cause the most industrious to return, 
after a long and laborious day, with an empty basket." — Parker 
Cfilmore. 



"Of all places, commend me, in the still of the evening, to the 
long placid pool, shallow on one side, with deeper water and an 
abrupt overhanging bank opposite. Where the sun has shone all 
day, and legions of ephemera sported in its declining rays ; the 
bloom of the rye or clover scenting the air from the adjoining 
field ! Now light a fresh pipe, and put on a pale Ginger Hackle 
for your tail-fly, and a little white-winged Coachman for your 
dropper. Then wade in cautiously- move like a shadow — don't 
make a ripple. Cast, slowly, long, light ; let your stretcher sink 
a little. There, he has taken the Ginger — lead him around gently 
to the shallow side as you reel him in, but don't move from your 
position— let him tug awhile, put your net under him, break his 
neck, and slip him into your creel. Draw your line through the 
rings — cast again ; another and another — keep on until you can 
see only the ripple made by your fly ; or know when it falls, by 
the slight tremor it imparts through the whole line down to your 
hand — until the whip-poor-will begins his evening song, and the 
little water-frog tweets in the grass close by ;-not till then is it 
time to go home." — Thaddeus Norris. 

" You may always know a large trout when feeding in the 
evening. He rises continuously, or at small intervals — in a still 
water almost always in the same place, and makes little noise — 
barely elevating his mouth to suck in the fly, and sometimes 
showing his back-fin and tail. A large circle spreads around 
him, but there are seldom any bubbles when he breaks the water, 
which usually indicates the coarser fish." — Sir Humphry Davy. 

" It is not difficult to learn how to cast ; but it is difficult to 
learn not to snap the fins off at every throw." — Charles Dudley 
Warner. 



NOT ALL OF FISHING TO FISH. 



BY 
A. NELSON CHENEY. 



" We cast our flies on many waters, where memories and fan- 
cies and facts rise, and we take them and show them to each 
other, and, small or large, we are content with our catch." — W. 
C. Prime. 

The commonly accepted definition of fly-fishing is 
the casting — with a light, strong, elastic, pliant rod — 
of two, three or four artificial flies, on a delicate leader 
attached to a fine tapered silk line over the surface of 
waters inhabited by the lordly, silver-coated salmon ; 
that aristocratic beauty, the speckled trout, or the 
more sombre-colored but gamy black bass. 

This, in truth, is called the acme of fishing, the 
highest degree attainable in the school of the angler. 
But of what a small portion, comparatively, of the 
pleasure of angling does the mere casting of the fly, 
however artistic, and the creeling of the fish, however 
large, consist. 

If it were all of fishing to fish ; if fish were only to 
be obtained in pools, in a desert waste that never re- 
flected leaf or twig ; from walled-in reservoirs, where 
fish are fattened like a bullock for the shambles ; from 



266 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

sluggish, muddy streams within the hearing of great 
towns, redolent of odors that are bred and disseminated 
where humanity is massed between walls of brick and 
mortar, or even from a perfect fish preserve, where 
everything is artificial except the water ; or if the be- 
ginning of fishing was making the first cast and the 
end the creeling of the last fish, would the gentle art 
under such conditions have been a theme for the poet's 
pen, a subject for the artist's brush, or a topic for the 
interesting story during the centuries that have passed 
since the first line was written, or the first words sung ? 
i" think not. 

Fishing for the fish alone would not have inspired 
Dame Juliana Berners, Izaak Walton, Charles Cotton, 
Sir Humphry Davy, John Bunyan, Sir Walter Scott, 
"Christopher North," and other and more modern 
writers to tell of the peace, the quiet, the health and the 
pleasure to be gained in the pursuit of this pastime. 

The skill exercised and the delicate tackle used by a 
past master of the art would have been unnecessary to 
cultivate or fashion, solely to supply the brain with 
food through the alimentary canal. 

An angler's brain is fed by absorption as well as by 
assimilation. 

There might be reason in calling a fisherman with 
an eye simply to the catching of fish, a "lover of cruel 
sport," but the cruelty would be of the same kind, but 
in a less degree, as that displayed by the butcher who 
supplies our tables with beef and mutton. 



NOT ALL OF FISHING TO FISH. 267 

To an angler the pleasures of the rod and reel are 
far-reaching and have no boundary save when the mind 
ceases to anticipate and the brain to remember. I have 
had the grandest sport on a midwinter's night with the 
snow piled high outside and the north wind roaring 
down the chimney, while I sat with my feet to the blaze 
on the hearth, holding in my hand an old fly-book. 
The smoke from my lighted pipe, aided by imagina- 
tion, contained rod, fish, creel, odorous balsam, droop- 
ing hemlock and purling brook or ruffled lake. I 
seemed to hear the twittering birds, leaves rustled by the 
wind and the music of running water, while the incense 
of wild flowers saluted my nostrils. The heat of the 
fire was but the warm rays of the sun and the crackle 
of the burning wood the noise of the forest. Thus 
streams that I have fished once or twice have been 
fished a score of times. 

I had nothing to show for the later fishings, but I 
could feel that God was good and my memory unim- 
paired. The fish in the pipe-smoke has been as active 
as was the fish in the water, and afforded as fine play. 
My reel has clicked as merrily in the half-dream as on 
the rod in the long ago, and my rod has bent to the 
play of the fish as though it were in my hand instead 
of lying flat on a shelf in a cool room up-stairs. I 
have had in my musings all the pleasure of actual fish- 
ing, everything but the fish in the flesh. 

When Winter comes and the ravages in tackle have 
been repaired and all is in perfect order for another 



268 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

season, I put my rods where they will not be injured by 
the modern furnace heat, each joint of each rod placed 
flat on a shelf. But the tackle trunk, securely locked 
that no vandal hand may get to its treasures, is where 
my eye rests upon it daily, and my fly books are in one 
of the drawers of my writing desk where I can easily 
reach them. When I take one of the books out of an 
evening, or at any time during my waking hours in 
early winter, I generally seek out some tattered fly that 
is wrapped carefully in a paper and placed in one of its 
pockets. The book may be full of flies, sombre or 
gorgeous in all the freshness of untried silk, mohair, 
feathers and tinsel ; but take for instance this one with 
the legend written on its wrapper : 

" Puffer Pond, June, 1867.— Thirty-five pounds of 
trout in two hours. The last of the gentlemen that did 
the deed." 

This, to me, tells the story of a very pleasant week 
spent in the Adirondacks. I remember, as I hold the 
ragged, faded fly in my hand and see that it still retains 
something of the dark blue of its mohair body and the 
sheen of its cock-feather wings, that it was one of six 
flies that I had in my fly-book that June day that 
stands out from other June days, in my memory, like a 
Titan amongst pygmies. The fly had no name, but the 
trout liked it for all that, and rose to it with as much 
avidity as though they had been properly introduced to 
some real bug of which this was an excellent counterfeit. 

That glorious two hours' time — with its excitement of 



NOT ALL OF FISHING TO FISH 269 

catching and landing without a net some of the most 
beautiful and gamy fish that ever moved fiii — comes 
back to me as vividly as though at this moment the 
four walls of my room were the forest-circled shores of 
that far-away pond, and I stand in that leaky boat, 
almost ankle deep in the water that Frank, the guide, 
has no time to bail, occupied as he is in watching my 
casts and admiring my whip-like rod during the play 
of a fish, or fishes, and in turning the boat's gunwale 
to the water's edge to let my trout in when they are ex- 
hausted. It is sharp, quick work, and the blue-bodied 
fly is always first of all the flies comj^osing the cast to 
get a rise, until I take off all but the one kind, and 
then one after another I see them torn, mutilated and 
destroyed. Later they will be put away as warriors gone 
to rest and the epitaph written on their wrappings : 
" Thy work was well done ; thy rest well earned." 
Now there is no time to mantle the fallen or sing 
paeans to the victors ; the action is at its height. I put 
my last blue fly on my leader and cast it again and 
again with success, before those dark open jaws, that 
come out of the water every time it falls on the surface, 
have destroyed its beauty forever. Frank says the time 
is up and we must go. 

The boat, propelled with broken oars, is headed for 
the landing-place, and I sit back in the stern admiring 
those sleek beauties that lie in the bottom, and that have 
fought so well and so vainly. My rod is inclined over 
my shoulder and the blue fly is trailing on the water 



270 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

astern. Suddenly I feel a twitch and hear a splash, 
and turning around find I am fast to a fish, the noblest 
Roman of that day's struggle. Once, twice, thrice he 
shows himself in all his fair proportions. 

" Two pounds and a half, if an ounce," says Frank. 

I get down on my knees in the water of the cranky 
boat, as the reel sings the merriest tune that ever 
delighted the ear of an angler. Two or three mad 
dashes, and I think the trout is tiring. I reel him 
slowly in, but the sight of the boat gives him new life 
and he darts under it in spite of my efforts to swing 
him around the stern. The rod tip is passed clear of 
the boat and the fight continues. 

Exhausted ? The fight is only begun. 

The unwieldy boat is far too slow to follow the fish, 
and I see my line growing rapidly less on my reel with 
no sign of weakness on the part of the fish. I am com- 
pelled to advance the butt of the rod and the tip droops 
nearer and, hesitatingly, still nearer to it, as though 
the tip would whisperingly confess that the strain is 
greater than it can bear, while the stout nature of the 
wood rebels at the confession. Involuntarily I raise 
myself by a muscular action as though the cords and 
sinews of my body could relieve the pressure on the 
lancewood and save the rod. 

"You'll smash your pole!" is the warning Frank 
litters. 

I care not now, for the fight has been a glorious one, 
but the " pole " survives to fight many another fight ; 



NOT ALL OF FISHING TO FISH 271 

the trout is turned and, at last, comes side up, to the 
boat, vanquished but not subdued. 

Here, in another paper, are three flies fastened to- 
gether. A Chicken Red Palmer Hackle, a Grizzly King 
and a fly with black body, brown wings, red tail and 
tip. They are large trout flies and won honorable 
retirement by catching three small-mouthed black bass 
at one and the same time. Fishing from a boat in the 
Hudson River, above a long rough rapid, I cast inshore 
and saw the stretcher fly taken by a small bass; im- 
mediately after the two droppers were taken by other 
bass that did not show themselves when taking the lures. 
My rod was the same that I have already mentioned, an 
ash and lance wood of eight ounces — scale weight — and 
my entire attention was directed to it and the fish, that 
were bending it like a willow wand ; when, suddenly, I 
discovered that the boatman had also been interested 
in the play of the fish and allowed the boat to drift 
into the swift water at the head of the rapids. The 
boatman made an effort to row up stream at the same 
time the fish decided to go down, and I found I must 
either smash my tackle and lose the fish — at this time 
I had seen but the one bass that took the stretcher 
fly — or run the rapids at the risk of an upset. I was 
very anxious to see the size of the fish that were strug- 
gling on my leader in that swift running water, and 
every angler will know the decision that was instantly 
made, to " shoot the rapids." 

The sight of these old tinseled lures brings back to 



272 FISTIWG WITH THE FLY. 

me the wild excitement of that driving, whirling ride 
through the racing, seething waters. Hatless I crouch 
down in the boat, one hand clutching the gunwale of 
the broad river craft, and the other holding aloft my 
rod. I give no thought to the possible fate of the 
occupants of the boat. My anxiety is for the fish. 
When the curved line is straight again, will I feel the 
bass at the end or only the bare flies ? These very flies ! 
Very soon the boat is rocking in the lumpy water at 
the foot of the chute, and I stand up, fill my lungs, and 
find my fish are still fast. Here in the broad water I 
bring to net three small-mouthed bass that together 
weigh four and one-quarter pounds, only one of which, 
at any time, showed himself above water. As I put 
the faded flies back into their paper coverings I find 
that my pulse has quickened and my pipe no longer burns. 

I must not exhibit all my treasures here, to the 
public. These old souvenirs are only for the eyes of 
sympathizing angling friends when me meet to blow a 
cloud and talk of other days. 

A little brown-eyed maiden once, looking into my fly- 
book, asked why I had the old frayed flies tied up in 
separate papers and marked, while the nice new flies 
did not show this care. Had she been of maturer years 
I might have quoted Alonzo of Aragon's commendation 
of old friends, but instead, I merely said : 

" The nice new flies I can easily buy, but no one sells 
such old flies, therefore I take the greater care of them 
because of their rarity.'' 



NOT ALL OF FLSII1NG TO FISH. 273 

The new flies will not be slighted, for they, also, have 
their season of admiration and caressing touch. When 
their day has come the old veterans of many a fight 
will not be forgotten either, but while maturing plans 
for augmenting their numbers, the recruits in their 
new, bright dress will be inspected to see what claims 
they may have for future honors. 

The lengthening days and diminishing snowbanks 
naturally turn the angler's thoughts forward, and he 
sniffs the south wind as though he would discover some 
slight remaining odor of fragrant apple blossoms borne 
to him from the far southland as the forerunner of 
warm air, blue sky, bursting buds, open streams, green 
grass, "gentle spring," and time to go a-fishing. Then 
the untried flies are examined and speculation is rife as 
to their excellence, each for its own particular kind of 
fish. 

Day dreams and evening musings give place to an 
activity of mind and body when fishing is under con- 
sideration. The lessons of the last season and other 
seasons are brought to bear to perfect all arrangements 
for a fresh campaign. Consultations with brother anglers 
are frequent, and plans many and various are weighed 
and discussed. ■ The tackle box is overhauled again and 
again, notwithstanding the attention paid to it at the 
close of the last season, to be sure that nothing is 
wanting or left undone. Lines are tested ; leaders are 
subjected to the closest scrutiny to see that no flaws or 
chafed places exist to give way at a critical moment 
18 



274 FISHING WITH THE FLY, 

during some future contest, when a trifle will turn the 
scales ; reels are taken apart and carefully oiled ; rods 
sent to the maker for a new coat of varnish, and, per- 
haps, a few new whippings for the guide rings ; fishing 
shoes, although they have a row of holes just above 
the soles, get an extra dressing of oil to keep the 
leather soft ; and an inventory of the wardrobe is taken 
and old garments are selected that appear for the time, 
considering the use they are to serve, far more faultless 
than when first sent home by the tailor. " About 
these days " your business letters, if written to people 
into whose souls the love of angling has entered, may 
terminate as follows : 

(< P. 8. — What are the prospects for the spring fish- 
ing in your neighborhood ? Did the late freshets of 
last fall destroy the trout eggs deposited in the streams 
about you?" or, "Did the unusual severity of the 
winter cause destruction to the trout spawn in the 
headwaters of your brooks ? " 

Some evening when the " fever is on " you will write 
to a guide up in the North Woods, some honest, faith- 
ful fellow that you have known in all weathers for 
many seasons : 

" Be sure and take a boat over to Mahogany Pond, 
(that is not the name of it, for its title is taken from a 
domestic wood that grows on its shores), before the 
snow goes off and keep me informed as to the condition 
of things, for I wish to start and be with you as soon as 
the water is free from ice. I shall bring a friend with 



NOT ALL OF FISHING TO FISH. 275 

me, the gentleman I told you about last summer, who 
knows the name of every plant that grows in the woods, 
as well as the name of every fish that swims in the 
water. The old camp, with a few repairs, will answer, 

as Mr. is an old woodsman and angler of the first 

order, and requires no more than the few simples that 
you usually take to camp. He, like myself, goes into 
the woods to fish and fill his lungs with the pure moun- 
tain air that you live in." 

"When Dick reads the letter he smiles, for it contains 
nothing unknown to him before. It is his own idea to 
carry a boat to the pond on the snow, for there is no 
road, path or trail, but he only says to himself : 

"He's got it just as bad this spring as ever. The 
medicine will be ready for him." 

The angler does all this and more; mind, I say the 
angler, for the other fellow that goes a-fishing because 
it is the thing to do, or because he has heard some one 
dilate upon the pleasure to be found in practising the 
art, will do nothing of the sort. It is too much trouble, 
or, more likely, these things never occur to him. 

Now the man of severe aspect who, if he smiles, 
looks as though he wore a petrified smile that he had 
bought at a bargain, and whose sole ambition and 
pleasure is to make money, live as long as he can in doing 
so, and die as rich as possible • this man, if he could 
know, and comprehend, what is passing through the 
angler's mind at this season, would say such vagabonds 
are the cumberers of the earth ; but he could not 



276 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

find a " cumberer " in all the land who would change 
places with him, take his joyless life, sapless heart, 
frozen yisage, narrow views and great wealth, and give 
in return the angler's light heart, happy disjDosition, 
love of God, his fellow-man and Nature ; his re- 
sources within himself, engendered by his fondness for 
the wild woods, to enjoy the past and anticipate the 
future, whatever betide ; his desire to see good in every 
thing, his clear conscience and his fishing tackle. 

Bear in mind that the pleasure of angling is not 
alone the consummation of your hopes for a large 
score. Hear what Sir Humphrey Davy says on this 
subject: 

"From the savage in his rudest and most primitive 
state, who destroys a piece of game, or a fish, with a club 
or spear, to man in the most cultivated state of society, 
who employs artifice, machinery, and the resources of 
various other animals, to secure his object, the origin 
of the pleasure is similar, and its object the same: but 
that kind of it requiring most art may be said to 
characterize man in his highest or intellectual state; 
and the fisher for salmon and trout with the fly 
employs not only machinery to assist his physical 
powers, but applies sagacity to conquer difficulties; 
and the pleasure derived from ingenious resources and 
devices, as well as from active pursuits, belongs to this 
amusement. Then, as to its philosophical tendency, 
it is a pursuit of moral discipline, requiring patience, 
forbearance, and command of temper. 



NOT ALL OF FISHING TO FISH. 277 

"As connected with natural science, it may be 
vaunted as demanding a knowledge of the habits of a 
considerable tribe of created beings — fishes, and the 
animals that they prey upon, and an acquaintance with 
the signs and tokens of the weather, and its changes, 
the nature of waters, and of the atmosphere. As to its 
poetical relations, it carries us into the most wild and 
beautiful scenery of nature, amongst the mountain 
lakes, and the clear and lovely streams that gush from 
the higher ranges of elevated hills, or that make their 
way through the cavities of calcareous strata. How 
delightful in the early spring, after the dull and 
.tedious time of winter, when the frosts disappear and 
the sunshine warms the earth and waters, to wander 
forth by some clear stream, to see the leaf bursting 
from the purple bud, to scent the odors of the bank 
perfumed by the violet, and enamelled as it were with the 
primrose and the daisy ; to wander upon the fresh turf 
below the shade of trees, whose bright blossoms are 
filled with the music of the bee ; and on the surface of 
the waters to view the gaudy flies sparkling like 
animated gems in the sunbeams, whilst the bright and 
beautiful trout is watching them from below ; to hear 
the twittering of the water-birds, who, alarmed at your 
approach, rapidly hide themselves beneath the flowers 
and leaves of the water-lily; and, as the season 
advances, to find all these objects changed for others of 
the same kind, but better and brighter, till the swallow 
and the trout contend as it were for the gaudy May- 



278 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

fly, and till in pursuing yonr amusement in the calm 
and balmy evening, you are serenaded by the songs of 
the cheerful thrush and melodious nightingale, per- 
forming the office of paternal love, in thickets orna- 
mented with the rose and woodbine." 

While it is not all of fishing to fish, it does not con- 
sist entirely of preparation, and it must have something 
substantial as a basis for the day dream or fireside 
musing. You must catch some fish, as capital stock, 
to talk about. I never knew an angler that was satis- 
fied to do all the listening. 

In my native State the law makes it legally possible 
to wet a hook for speckled trout, for the first time each 
year on April first, and this day has come to be called 
" Opening Day," and is spoken of in such glowing 
language that one might think it the opening of some 
vast commercial enterprise instead of the opening of 
the fishing season. As the result of an angler's hopes 
and preparations, as I have tried, imperfectly, to sketch 
them, I will cpiote from my fishing diary what is there 
set down as one consummation: 

"April 1st, 1878. — Opening day. Fished Halfway 
brook from Morgan brook to, and through the woods ; 
then fished Ogden brook from Van Husen's road to 
Gleason's. Banks more than full of roily snow water ; 
weather decidedly cold ; strong wind from the North- 
west ; cloudy sky. Caught one small trout that I 
returned to his native element to grow; discovered 
from my single specimen of the Salvelinus fontinalis 



NOT ALL OF FISHING TO FISH. 279 

that they have the same bright spots that they 
have always had; look the same, smell the same, 
feel the same ; other peculiarities lacking. Warm sun 
and rain required to develop the characteristics we so 
much admire in our leaping friend. Managed to fall 
into the Ogden brook — in fact, went in without the 
slightest difficulty, amid applause from the bank ; 
discovered from my involuntary j)lunge that the water 
is just as wet as last year, and if memory serves, a 
trifle colder. Reached home in the evening, cold, wet, 
tired and hungry. Nevertheless, had a most glorious 
time." 



BASS FLIE S 




Made by C F.ORVIS. Manchester, Vt 



COPYRIGHTED 



" These flies, I am sure, would kill fish."— Charles Cotton. 

" I would advise all experts to keep a well-filled fly-book. It is 
a pleasure to experiment and the educated eye takes delight in 
looking at the varieties of colors, shapes and forms which the 
skilled workman in fly-art has provided as lures for the speckled 
beauties." — George Dawson. 

"Fly-fishing and bait-fishing are co-ordinate branches of the 
same study, and each must be thoroughly learned to qualify the 
aspirant to honors for the sublime degree of Master of the Art." 
— Charles Hallock. 

" Americans have reason to be proud of the black bass, for its 
game qualities endear it to the fisherman, and its nutty, sweet 
flavor to the gourmand." — Parker Gilmore. 

20. Black Maria. 21. Tipperlinn. 

22. Premier. 23. Grizzly King. 

24. Ferguson. 25. Californian. 

" ' What flies do you most affect here ? ' * Any, at times, and 
almost all. In some weather I have killed well with middle- 
sized gaudy lake-flies ; but my favorites, on the whole, are all the 
red, brown, orange and yellow hackles, and the blue and yellow 
duns.'" — Henry Wm. Herbert. 

" The real enjoyment of camping and trami 1 the woods 

lies in a return to primitive conditions of loci ,/ess and food, 

in as total an escape as may be from the re <nts of civiliza- 

tion. And it remains to be explained a . h is enjoyed most 
by those whose are most highly civi; ^d. '^Charles Dudley 
Warner. 

" Fish will frequently, although breaking freely, refuse the 
fly, but generally a few will be misled, and occasionally one will 
be caught."— R. B. Roosevelt, 



" The natural and acquired skill actually necessary before any 
man can throw a 'neat fly,' is only known to those who have 
made this method of angling their study and amusement." — 
"Frank Forester." 

" Luck has little to do with the size of an angling score ; for skill 
in handling, a knowledge of the haunts of the fish, of the condi- 
tions of wind, weather and water, character of baits to be used, 
of the changes and drift of tideways, sun-rays and shadows, and a 
familiar acquaintance with the natural history of the family pisces, 
their habits, habitat, and idiosyncrasies (for no other animal is so 
erratic as these scaly fins), all go to make up the complete angler, 
known as such from the days and writings of Izaak "Walton, in 
the seventeenth, up to this great nineteenth century." — Win. C. 
Harris. 

11 What is the use of my telling you what manoeuvres that 
trout will perform before he comes to the landing-net, gently as a 
lamb ? I don't know what he will do ; never saw two of them 
act alike." — Oliver Gibbs, Jr. 

" Probably the secret of the infatuation of this amusement to 
most or many of the brothers of the angle, is to be found in the 
close and quiet communion and sympathy with nature essential 
to the pursuit of the spoil of the water." — John Lyle King. 

" The principle of the rod is in reality only this, that it is the 
home end of the line, stiffened and made springy, so that you 
can guide and manage it — cast and draw it, keep a gentle press- 
ure with it on the hook, so that the fish shall not rid himself of 
it, and finally lift him to the landing net." — W. C. Prime. 



FLY-FISHING m FLORIDA. 

BY 

DR. J. C. KEXWORTHT. 



The votaries of the rod and reel have overlooked an 
important field for sport, for, in my opinion, no por- 
tion of the United States offers such advantages for 
fly-fishing as portions of Florida during the winter 
months. The health of the State is beyond cavil or 
dispute ; the climate is all the most fastidious can ask; 
there is an almost total absence of insect pests, and last 
though not least, a greater variety of fish that will take 
the fly than in any other section of the Union. My 
own experience is mainly based on opportunities for 
observation on the south-west coast, and it is possible 
that points on the eastern coast, as the Indian River 
inlet and the outlet of Lake Worth, may offer advan- 
tages over the section referred to. 

As far as my knowledge extends, fly-fishers are in- 
debted to my friend, Geo. C. Johnson, of Briclge23ort, 
Conn., for the development of fly-fishing in Florida. 
Some years since I met Mr. Johnson on his arrival in this 
city en route to Homosassa. He remarked that he had 
brought his fly-rod with him, and I suggested that a 
heavy bass rod would prove more serviceable. 



284 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

On the evening of his arrival at Homosassa he visited 
the dock in front of Jones' house, and noticed fish 
breaking water near the shore. He proceeded to the 
house, rigged his rod, and was followed to the dock by 
a number of laughing sceptics, who ridiculed the 
" spindly rod and feather baits." In compliance with 
Mr. Johnson's request, Dr. Ferber rowed him a short dis- 
tance from the dock, and the fun commenced with 
large-mouthed bass and red trout ; and from that eve- 
ning fly-fishing became an established institution on 
the south-west coast of Florida. For a number of years 
Dr. Ferber has devoted his winters to fly-fishing on the 
south-west coast, and it is to be regretted that he was 
not requested to give his ripe and ample experience, 
instead of one who is far beneath him in experience and 
ability to wield the split bamboo or pen. 

The next season after Mr. Johnson's visit to Homo- 
sassa Mr. Francis Endicott, of New York, visited the 
locality and indulged in fly-fishing. He informed me 
that he had captured with the fly eight distinct species 
of fish on the Homosassa River ; and I will ask where 
else in the United States can the devotee of the gentle 
art capture eight distinct species of fish with the fly on 
a river but ten miles in length ? 

My friend, Dr. Ferber, on his return from the south- 
west coast in April last, visited me, and stated that he 
had caught on that coast, with artificial flies, eleven 
distinct species of fish. Among the number I may 
mention large-mouthed bass (trout of the South), 



FLY FISHING IN FLORIDA. 285 

channel bass, cavalli, ravallia, skip jacks, sea trout, 
brown snappers, roach, and three species of bream. 

Instead of wading icy-cold and over-fished brooks, 
tearing clothes and flesh in creeping through briers and 
brush, and being subjected to the sanguinary attention 
of mosquitoes and black flies in bringing to creel a few 
fingerlings, in Florida the angler can cast his fly from 
a sandy beach or boat, inhale an invigorating atmos- 
phere, bask in the sunshine, and capture specimens of 
the finny tribe, the weight of which can be determined 
by pounds instead of ounces. 

Sea trout of the South are closely allied to the weak 
fish of the North, and frequent rapid waters, oyster 
beds and weedy flats. They range from one to five 
pounds, are good biters and make a noble resistance to 
avoid the landing net. 

Large-mouthed black bass (trout of the South) exist 
in great numbers in the lakes and streams of the State. 
In very clear lakes and streams they are not disposed 
to indulge in artificial baits. As fighters they are un- 
worthy of the notice of experts. It has been my lot to 
capture them in many localities, and I have found that 
after the first few struggles they open their mouths and 
come to gaff: like a grain bag. 

Brown snappers exist in countless numbers in some 
of the streams of the State — as in the Homosassa. They 
range from six ounces to one pound, and cannot resist 
the temptation to capture a hook decorated with feath- 
ers. They are good biters and full of game. Owing 



286 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

to the presence of a number of rat-like teeth, they play 
sad hayoc with flies ; and we would advise those who 
propose engaging in the capture of this fish to provide 
an ample supply of feathery lures. 

Skip- jacks (or bone-fish) visit the streams in schools. 
They range from two to six pounds. They readily take 
a fly and die game. Owing to their build, size of fins, 
and muscular development, they are worthy of notice. 
On one occasion I was camped at Little Gasparilla pass, 
and at the bay side of the inlet there existed an eddy in 
which I could see hundreds of skip-jacks. For some 
time I amused myself by casting, and the moment the 
bait would touch the water the surface would be in a boil. 
I would strike and the next instant a bone-fish would 
be two or three feet in the air. As a rule they enter 
the streams with the flood tide, and as they are con- 
stantly breaking the water they can be followed in a 
boat. By following the fish on the flood and ebb the 
rodster may enjoy a number of hours of exciting sport. 
Between Esteno and Marco passes I have seen them for 
hours at a time feeding on minnows near the beach. 

The Ravallia is a fish with which I am unacquainted, 
although I have reason to believe that it exists in quan- 
tity at certain points on the south-west coast. My friend 
Dr. Ferber, informed me that in one of his cruises he 
entered Billy Bow Legs Creek and noticed a deep pool. 
He made a cast and landed a ravallia. Nearly every 
cast he would land one or two ranging from one to 
three pounds, unless a ravenous cavalli interfered. 



FLY FISHING IN FLORIDA. 287 

The cayalli of large size would seem to tire of the 
flouncing and floundering of their neighbors, and would 
join in the fray, when the doctor would part with a fly 
or leader. The doctor assured me that the sport was 
kept up until he was surfeited. He describes the fish 
as resembling a pike perch of the North, and is loud in 
its praise as a game fish. Friends haye informed me 
that they have captured specimens of this fish, with cut 
bait, weighing thirty pounds. My impression is, that 
if pools and inlets south of Punta Rassa were thor- 
oughly tried with the fly that the piscator would be 
rewarded with large-sized specimens. 

Bream of several species exist in great numbers in 
many of the streams and lakes of the State. They 
range from four ounces to one pound, and afford con- 
siderable sport on a light rod. Roach are not plentiful, 
but Avhere they exist they will not refuse a brown hackle. 

In many of the streams of the State war-mouthed 
perch exist in numbers, ranging from one to three 
pounds. When the streams are low, they readily take 
a fly, and give the angler all he can attend to. 

In some of the creeks tributary to the St. Johns' 
and in some of the interior lakes, pickerel exercise 
their snapping propensities, and do not object to appro- 
priate a gaudy fly in the early morn or at the close of 
the day. 

On the Eastern Coast, more especially at Indian River 
inlet, small blue fish congregate in numbers during the 
winter months, and at times will not refuse a fly v . They 



288 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

are fair fighters, and as the piscator can fish from a sandy 
beach, much enjoyment can be secured. 

In Florida cat fish will take a fly, and I may also 
add a spinner. In this State we have a number of 
species of this fish, and one is a surface feeder. In 
the evening, when they are feeding on the surface, they 
will not reject a large and gaudy fly. To those who 
have been accustomed to capture with a stout rod 
diminutive specimens of catties, I will say, hook on to 
a catty weighing from six to twelve pounds and there 
will be " music in the air," and unless skill is exercised 
on the part of the fisherman the leader will go to where 
the " woodbine twineth." 

In Florida, as everywhere else, the best fishing is near 
where A., B. or C. run a hotel or keep a boarding house, 
or where certain steamboats make a terminal landing. 
But in my experience the best places to fish, as a rule, 
are where there are no hotels or specimens of the col- 
ored persuasion with their cast nets. When " I go a- 
fishing " I leave civilization, hotels, and boarding-houses 
in the rear. 

The best points for fly-fishing for large-mouthed bass 
are on the upper St. Johns, the tributaries of Indian 
river, the Kcssimmee and the streams and lagoons on 
the south-west coast. For pickerel and bream the best 
points are the tributaries of the St. Johns between 
Mandarin and Lake Monroe. For war-mouthed perch, 
the best streams will be found in Alachua County. 

From all that I can glean from gentlemen who have 



FLY FISHING W FLORIDA. 289 

fished the locality, the lower Indian River and its tribu- 
taries will furnish a fine field for the fly-caster. "West 
of Cedar Keys to St. Marks is a shoal coast covered 
with marine algae ; and the coast line is cut up with a 
number of small streams stocked — nay, swarming — with 
fish. This section is uninhabited, the streams have 
not been fished, and a fine field for sport awaits the 
fisherman. In addition, hand line or bass rod fishing 
can be enjoyed for sheepshead and channel bass. The 
woods abound with deer, the hummocks contain plenty 
of turkeys, and the bays and grassy flats during the 
winter are alive with ducks, and in certain localities 
geese and brant will be found. Beech birds, as snipe 
and curlews, can be bagged in quantity. 

The first stream worthy of notice on the southwest 
coast is the Homosassa River, forty miles south of 
Cedar Keys. But this beautiful river has lost its 
greatest attraction, "Mother Jones." I have been in- 
formed that she left Homosassa, and, as a sequence, 
there will be wanting the clean rooms and beds, the 
stewed and scalloped oysters, the aromatic coffee, the 
delicious breakfast bacon, and the luscious sheepshead 
done to a turn. With "Mother Jones" will depart 
many of the attractions of the place, more particularly 
the cusine. I write feelingly, for I was the first to 
make known the attractions of my favorite Homosassa. 

According to my friend, Dr. Ferber, Billy Bow Legs 
Creek, a tributary of Sarasota Bay, presents many at- 
tractions to the fly-fisher, more especially in the capture 
19 



290 FISUING WITH THE FLY. 

of cavalli and ravallia. Long Boat Inlet, an entrance to 
this bay, must not be overlooked. 

Many points in Charlotte Harbor offer inducements 
to the fly-fisher. If he tires of using the split bamboo, 
he can troll with a spinner and land large channel bass 
and cavalli ; for divertisement he can seat himself in an 
arm chair on the dock at Punta Rassa and imitate my 
friend Matthew Quay (late Secretary of State of Pennsyl- 
vania), who landed fifty-six large sheepshcad in one hour. 
If dissatisfied with this description of sport the juscator 
can indulge in the capture of Jew-fish, weighing from 
one to three hundred pounds. On the Calloosahatchee, 
above the islands, the fly caster can be satiated with 
sport in landing large-sized cavalli. From Charlotte 
Harbor southward every entrance, bay, pass and lagoon 
will afford royal sport. 

Delicate mist-colored leaders are not a necessit} T , for 
Florida fish have not been educated or posted with 
regard to the tricks of the craft. They seem to recog- 
nize but little difference between a single strand of gut 
and a clothes-line. The main things requisite are strong 
leaders and large-sized hooks, for when fish are so plen- 
tiful and valueless the fisherman is apt to try and see how 
many he can land within a given period. With regard 
to flies, almost any of the more common ones will an- 
swer a good purpose. My choice for channel bass, ca- 
valli, sea trout and bone fish is a large-sized gaudy fly 
with a large-sized hook. 

To reach the south-west coast persons can go direct 



FL T FISHING IN FLORIDA. 291 

from Savannah or Fernandina, or visit Jacksonville en 
route. At Cedar Keys, Tampa, or Manatee they can 
charter a sloop or schooner of from four to six tons for 
five or six dollars per day. This amount will cover 
captain, boy, small boat, bedding, stove and cooking 
utensils. Fish, beach birds, oysters and clams are 
plentiful, and the expense of the culinary department 
will be from fifty cents to five dollars per capita per 
diem, according to the Dutch proclivities of the per- 
sons comprising the party. 

The coast is shallow, the ten-fathom line ranging 
from thirty to forty miles from shore, and as a conse- 
quence there is no undertow, rollers or heavy seas. The 
passage from Cedar Keys to Bay Biscayne can be made 
in a small boat at almost any time. On one occasion 
the writer made the trip from Key West to Cedar Keys 
in a boat sixteen feet in length. 

Fly-fishing in Florida is a recent development, and it 
offers a large field for experiment and investigation ; 
and I trust that the period is not far distant when the 
sport will be indulged in by the many. By the first of 
January, 1884, Tampa will be reached from this city 
in twenty-four hours via Sanford and Kissimmee. 
From what we know of railroads in this State we feel 
assured that one will be completed to Punta Rassa within 
two years ; when Charlotte Harbor and Estero Bay, the 
greatest of fishing points, will be rendered accessible 
to all. 

In preparing this article we have used the common 



292 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

names of fish, and the reason for so doing will be obvi- 
ous to all. In passing through this city, if fly-fishers 
will call upon me between 12 m. and 2 p.m., I will en- 
deavor to smooth the road for them. 
Jacksonville, Fla. 



FLY-FISHING. 

BY 

COL. E. Z. C. JUDSON.— "NedBuxtline." 



Fishermen" are born such — not made ! That is my 
private opinion, publicly expressed. It is founded upon 
the experience of full half a century on ocean, lake, 
river, and brook. I have taken a mature man with me 
on a fishing trip, who had never cast " a line in pleas- 
ant places/' lent him rod and tackle, made a few casts 
in his presence, caught perhaps a half a dozen trout, and 
then watched his imitative power combined with the 
tact lorn in him. If he was one of the right sort he 
would go right on improving every hour, and in a little 
while begin to fill his creel with the best of us. 

My personal knowledge of fish and fishing began 
early. My father had few superiors as an angler, and 
trouting was his specialty. He made his own rods, 
lines and flies. The first was a tapering ashen pole — 
generally about ten feet long — scraped, oiled and var- 
nished till it was as smooth and bright as glass. The 
line was made from horse-hair and braided with a care 
and patience that used to be a wonder to me. 

The blue-jay, the red-headed woodpecker, the pheas- 
ant and wood-duck were shot for fly-feathers. When I 



294 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

was a wee toddler in skirts I used to hold hooks and 
snells and play at "helping papa." 

All this was done here at the head of the Delaware, 
where both my father and myself were born. But a 
change came. When I was about six years old my fa- 
ther bought a large tract of wild land in the wildest 
part of Wayne County, Pennsylvania, and settled on it. 
The Lackawaxen Creek ran right through it, and that 
then lovely stream was literally alive with speckled 
trout. From the day we entered our log house there I 
was a, fi slier -boy. I caught trout every day in the sum- 
mer, for a big spring rose within a rod of the house 
and from it ran a lively brook to the main stream, ten 
rods away, and even a pin-hook and linen thread would 
draw them out. 

As I grew older I would go with my father to the 
big eddies and deep holes, where he would lure the 
largest to his fly and I was only too— too utterly happy 
when allowed to wade waist deep in the water to carry 
or float his string of trout toward home. 

Since then never a summer has passed, excej)t when 
actively engaged in naval or military service for my 
country, that has not found me fishing somewhere. I 
have covered the best waters in Maine, New Hampshire 
and Yermont ; Canada and the British Provinces know 
me of old ; California, Oregon and British Columbia- 
all along the Big Rockies — have seen me testing flies 
and bait, the former often tied rudely on the spur of 
necessity, but generally very effectively. For where 



FLYFISHING. 295 

trout are very plenty, food is scarce, and they will bite 
at anything. I speak of trout mostly, for that is my 
favorite fish. Salmon next, although the work comes 
in when you strike anything over eight or ten pounds, 
and sport degenerates when it becomes labor. I have 
heard of "labors of love," but I never took stock in 
anything of the kind. 

In all this active piscatorial life, I have studied 
Fishermen as well as fish. And I have come to the con- 
clusion which opens this article — that fishermen are born 
for it and can't be manufactured out of raw material ! 

I have felt thankful to our Father above that nine 
out of ten of the tourists who take to the streams in 
easy reach, are indifferent fishermen. For thereby the 
streams still contain fish. Were all who fish in them 
skillful and hoggish, in a little while there would be no 
fishing except in "far-away places, difficult to reach. 

I do not claim to hold a Master's Degree as a fly-fisher- 
man. I do delight in the art, for one of the arts and 
sciences it surely is. I have bowed my head in rever- 
ence before the skilled hand of my dear friend, George 
Dawson— now beside the bright waters of the Happy 
Land above. I have stood silent and pleased while 
Seth Green deftly made casts which I could only feebly 
imitate. 

Yet those who know me best say that I can use a fly- 
rod and catch trout and salmon therewith, so I essay a 
few words on the subject, speaking only from my own ex- 
perience. I have never been observant enough to see a 



296 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

trout strout strike a fly with his tail, drown it and then 
eat it. I always take a trout in the mouth on my fly — 
generally hooked in the upper lip, showing that he does 
Ms part of the business in a straightforward way and 
does not come tail first to the lure. 

I own to be a little particular about my rod, the 
middle joint not too limber, but with back-bone as well 
as spring ; it suits me if it tapers so as to describe a 
perfect arc when the tip is brought near to the butt. I 
specify no makers — though I own to favorites in that 
line. I wish to make no petty jealousies here. 

A rod as near ten feet long as may be, for trout fish- 
ing, weight from seven to eight ounces, never over ten, 
with the reel close to and under the butt ; an easy run- 
ning click-reel ; a line of braided hair and silk, strong 
and weighty enough for a cast against the wind as well 
as with it ; a clear, strong, looped leader for a quick 
change of flies ; a book well supplied with the latter to 
give the speckled beauties a choice, and I am ready for 
work. 

The idea of special flies for special seasons of the 
year I have found to be a humbug. Trout are exceed- 
ingly whimsical about flies. Watch those that are on 
the stream, see which the trout leap for and get as near 
the like of them as your book will allow. 

Always, if possible, fish down stream. It is easier. 
You can detect swirls, eddies, shaded pools, coverts of 
rock, mossy-banks and overhanging branches, from 
above, better than below. Trout do not scare so easily 



FLYFISHING. 297 

that a cast of fifteen or twenty feet will not find them 
ready to rise if they are hungry. You have also the 
aid of the current in guiding your fly to each coveted 
spot after it touches the water. 

Enter a stream, say its average width is seventy- five 
or one hundred feet, few of our mountain streams 
are so much, and a skilled rodster can cover it with 
ease — f or wading down he chooses his water, makes his 
casts, seldom over twenty or twenty-five feet of line to 
a cast, much of tenor less, and in " good waters " fills 
his creel. 

For a forward cast, with your line as far out as may 
be necessary for the distance, throw your rod sharply 
back to an angle of not over fifteen degrees, and then 
bring it forward quickly till, as your line and flies are ex- 
tended, the tip is on a level with your breast, never 
lower so as to dip water. With a line " taut," so to speak, 
if a trout rises as your fly or flies touch the stream, a 
sharp, quick turn of the wrist will strike the hook home 
and secure him . Your strike must be firm and decisive ; 
give the trout one second to understand and he spits 
the fly out. Laugh if you will, but that is what he does. 

When hooked, if not too large for your tackle, draw 
the trout swiftly to you, lift him out, and break his 
neck, by bending back the head where it joins the 
back-bone. Thus he is out of pain, and does not bruise 
and flop himself soft, while dying, in your creel. 
"Playing" a trout for the mere fun of the thing, is 
unnecessary torture ; besides, you frighten more than 



298 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 

you secure, in the process. A very large trout, of 
course, must be weakened in the water, but many 
fishermen think there is no sport without they "play" 
a fish, no matter how small he is. 

Never cast a foot more line than you need. You 
cannot gather slack half as easy as you can pay it out. 

In regard to flies— I have found the brighter the day, 
as a general thing, the darker fly do trout want. At 
early dawn, or in the soft twilight of evening, a very 
light fly — a Coachman, is best. Next, Gray Miller, and 
especially the Stone fly. I use more Coachmen, Black 
Gnats and Stone flies in one season, than I clo of all 
other flies put together in three summers. 

Be sure, of all things, that your line runs easy through 
the standing guides, or guide-rings. I like the for- 
mer best. 

In casting right or left, to reach under bushy or 
over-hanging limbs, the same sharp, or quick action 
which makes an over-cast successful, is required, and 
great care not to draw any slack line when your fly 
drops where you want it. 

Many fly-fishermen are considered adepts according 
to the length rather than the grace and certainty of 
their casts. I do not think in actual stream fishing an 
average of a day's casting, would reach over fifteen feet 
to a cast. I never made but one very long cast in 
actual angling in my life. 

Once, on the bank of a mill-pond in the upper part 
of Alder Brook, in Ulster County, K Y., I saw a trout 



FLYFISHING. 299 

in shoal water, the largest I ever caught in that vicin- 
ity. To reach him without alarm, I cast seventy-two 
feet, measured afterward from a knot on my line near 
my reel, and got my fish. 

He weighed two and a quarter pounds, and I had to 
play him some to save him. 

And now, with a word to young fishermen and old 
beginners, I will close. 

Learn first to cast a line and take a trout with bait 
before you try a fly. You will thereby gain confidence, 
learn to hook your fish at the instant he strikes, and 
gain the supple use of arm and wrist which makes the 
fly-fisherman skillful. 

My dear wife, by whose sick bed I pen these words, 
for one long joyous summer in camp, fished by my side, 
using bait while she saw me casting no lure but flies. 

The next time we went on the stream she had a six- 
ounce fly-rod, and fifty beautiful trout in two hours 
to her basket proved how apt a pupil she had been. 

With many words of cheer to all who love the glori- 
ous pastime, I remain, as of yore — Uncle Ned — a bom 
fisherman. 

" Eagle's Nest," Delaware Co., N. Y. 



" There are two peculiarities of all sorts of fish, which are fre- 
quently unnoticed ; that they are largely attracted to their food 
by scent, and that they feed at night. "Seth Green. 

" The first and last object of the fly-fisher is to show as much 
of the fly to the fish as possible, and as little of any tiling else. " — 
Francis Francis. 

" The notion of the main mass of anglers would appear to be, 
that if an unusually cunning fish takes up an impregnable-look- 
ing position he is to be religiously left unassailed. ' Breakers 
ahead ! ' seem to be scented by the over-cautious pliers of the rod, 
when the chances of conquest are really ' as even ' as in less dan- 
gerous localities ; and even supposing this were not so, the greater 
the difficulties the more exciting the sport, and the keener the 
pleasure." — David Foster. 

26. Manchester. 27. Blue Jay. 

28. Imperial. 29. McLeod. 

30. Black and Gold. 31. White and Jungle Cock. 

" Many men of fame, even equal to Dr. Johnson's, have been 
eminent as anglers, and have redeemed and disculpated angling 
from his surly and foolish sneer." — John Lyle King. 

" I invariably endeavor, when dressing a fly, to imitate the 
living insect ; still I have seen nondescript flies beat all the pal- 
mer hackles and the most life-like flies that ever graced a casting- 
line." — "Frank Forester. " 

"If we are content with an ungainly fly, we will be satisfied 
with inferiority of rod and tackle ; and although the fish may 
not see the difference, the angler may become, from neglecting 
one point, slovenly in all. A well-made fly is a beautiful object, 
an ill-made one an eye-sore and annoyance ; and it is a great sat- 
isfaction both to exhibit and examine a well-filled book of hand- 
somely tied flies." — li. B. Roosevelt. 



"What is life, after all, but just going a-fishing all the time, 
casting flies on many rivers and lakes, and going quietly home 
as the day is ending ?" — W. C. Prime. 

" This fishing story is at an end ; not for want of material, for 
there are other scenes and other times of equal pleasure that 
crowd my memory as I write these lines. And so it will ever be 
to you, my friend, should you, even in your later years, take up 
the angler's art : it grows with its growth, and strengthens with 
its strength, and, if uncurbed, may perchance, with many of us, 
become a passion. 

"But, for all that, it will fill the storehouse of our memories 
with many a scene of unalloyed pleasure, which in the sunset of 
life we may look back upon with fondest satisfaction. 

\ ' If in the minds of any one of you who as yet are ignorant of 
the charm of fishing, as it has here been revealed. 1 have induced 
the desire for a test, ' Stand not upon the order of your going, but 
go at once,' provided it be the season, and, the word of an old 
fisherman for it, you will thank me for these random pages." — 
Charles W. Stevens. 



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